Burglar Sexually Assaulted Woman in Coral Springs Home Invasion

Suspect in custody after woman able to call 911 from cell

A 19-year-old was in police custody Mondayafter authorities say he broke into a Coral Springs home and sexually assaulted a woman with her newborn baby nearby Sunday night.

Gary Lenard Holmes is facing three counts of armed sexual battery, one count of burglary with a battery, one count of armed occupied burglary and one count of petit theft, police said.

The incident happened at the home in the 2300 block of Northwest 95th Avenue.

Police say they received a 911 call from the 25-year-old woman's cell phone around 8 p.m., but no one was talking on the other end. It turned out the woman was able to dial 911 and couldn't say anything but left the line open.

"It was an open line and the dispatcher could hear some type of disturbance," Coral Springs Police spokesman Sgt. Dave Kirkland said. "Although she wasn't able to communicate, she kept an open line and that was instrumental, because what that did was that allowed the dispatcher to triangulate at least a close proximity to where the call came from."
 
As officers neared the scene, the woman was able to call from a land line and tell police her attacker was running out of the house, Kirkland said.

Authorities closed off the area and were able to take Holmes, of Pompano Beach, into custody.

Police believe Holmes, armed with a knife, broke into the home through an open door.

Holmes demanded the woman's valuables, then pushed her to her bedroom floor and struck her multiple times, according to a police report.

The victim was cut on her hands from Holmes' knife, and he prdered her to the kitchen to clean her hands, the report said.

Holmes then ordered the woman into another bedroom, threw her on the bed and raped her, the report said.

The woman tried to fight Holmes off but he was able to get her on the ground where he punched her in the face multiple times and choked her to the point where she almost passed out, the report said.

During the attack, the woman's child was lying on a bed in the bedroom where Holmes made contact with the victim, police said.

Holmes fled the scene with the victim's cell phone and was arrested a short time later, the report said.

He gave a detailed description of what happened inside the home and admitted he raped the woman, the report said.

Holmes also told police he called an ex-girlfriend and confessed to her what he did, the report said.

"This is a very quiet neighborhood, where most everybody knows each other," Kirkland said. "At this time, we don't know why this person chose this house."

The woman was being treated with non-life threatening injuries, Kirkland said. The newborn was unharmed.

Holmes was being held without bond Monday. It was unknown whether he has an attorney.

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