MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. — A 37-year-old man was arrested Thursday by the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office after breaking into an apartment and touching a 13-year-old boy who was sleeping inside, authorities said.
According to an arrest report, Karl Heinz Mercier, of northeast Miami-Dade, broke into the victim’s apartment unit at the Park Towers on Northwest 155th Lane at about 4 a.m., laid on the victim’s bed as he was asleep and then placed his hand inside the victim’s underwear and fondled his penis.
Deputies said the boy immediately screamed out to alert his parents who were sleeping in a separate room, but Mercier told him, “Nothing is going to happen. No one is going to come.”
According to the report, the boy’s parents confronted Mercier as he tried to flee the apartment and he was then detained by responding deputies.
The victim’s parents told deputies they do not know Mercier and he did not have permission to enter their home.
Deputies said Mercier confessed to entering the home without permission and touching the boy.
He was arrested on charges of burglary with assault or battery and attempted sexual battery on a minor.
As of Friday morning, he was being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. Online jail records listed his bond as “to be set.”
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