KEY LARGO, Fla. — Deputies arrested a man in Key Largo on Thursday after accusing him of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl.
Jail records show Gabriel Castillo Fernandez, 34, was arrested at the Keys Lake Villas Apartments at 106003 Overseas Highway.
According to an arrest report from the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, Castillo Fernandez met the victim and her sister at a pool on Saturday.
Deputies said the girls told investigators that they had met three men, including Castillo Fernandez, and were flirting with him.
Authorities said the victim told him she was 16 and the two exchanged phone numbers and later kissed in a bathroom before the girl’s sister knocked on the door. The age of consent in Florida is 18.
The report states that the next day, the victim texted Castillo Fernandez and told him to come to the pool. She told deputies that Castillo Fernandez texted her “freaky things” and asked her to meet him in the bathroom, the report states.
There, deputies said he kissed her again but began to “pull down her bathing suit” and did not stop when she told him “no.”
They said Castillo Fernandez eventually forced the girl to perform a sex act on him.
“Throughout this, (the victim) kept telling him ‘No’ and to stop,” an MCSO investigator wrote. “I asked if she tried to fight or escape and she said no, because she had been raped before and her previous attacker had abused her if she tried to fight back.”
The girl’s sister then entered the bathroom, saw what was happening “and started yelling for help,” deputies said.
Deputies said surveillance video corroborated the victim’s account.
The report states that in an interview, Castillo Fernandez first claimed he had never met the teen before, but, after being shown surveillance video, admitted that he kissed the girl and that she performed a sex act on him.
It states that Castillo Fernandez said “he had a feeling that (the victim) was not 18 and was underage.”
Following his arrest, he faces a child sexual battery charge, as well as a charge of false imprisonment and two counts of lewd or lascivious behavior.
As of Friday afternoon, Castillo Fernandez was being held in MCSO’s Key West jail facility on a $325,000 bond, records show.
He’s set to be arraigned on Aug. 19.
Copyright 2025 by WPLG Local10.com - All rights reserved.
