State
of Florida
Office of the State Attorney
16th Judicial Circuit
|
Office of the State Attorney 16th Judicial Circuit
|
|
Criminal Justice System Overview Employment Opportunities |
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FEBRUARY 18, 2006 Fantasy Fest Rapist Found Guilty A Florida law requiring certain felons to submit DNA samples to authorities paid off in a Key West courtroom Thursday. A jury convicted Manuel Herbert, 22, of the sexual battery of a 21-year old woman in Key West nightclub in October 2002. Herbert was apprehended when a DNA sample he gave as a result of a burglary conviction years earlier matched DNA he left on his Key West victim. On the evening of October 27, 2002 Herbert approached a young woman at the Epoch nightclub in Key West. The two chatted and Herbert offered to buy her a drink. Four cocktails later, the young woman felt dizzy. Although she suspected that her drinks had been drugged, she nonetheless accepted the offer of a ride home from Herbert. But Herbert did not take her home. Instead, he put her in his car, drove to an unknown location, stripped his victim of her clothes and raped her. In her inebriated state, she said she was unable to resist physically, but insisted that Herbert stop. When Herbert had finished, he found $340 in his victim’s clothing and said, “I guess this is mine,” according to police reports. Then he threw her out of his car. The woman made her way home and her parents took her to the Lower Keys Medical Center. There, a nurse examined her and, according to police reports, “completed a sexual battery kit on the victim” from which authorities might identify the rapist’s DNA. The victim said she did not know the man who raped her. But a year later, a search of the Florida Convicted Offender Database, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement found an exact match – at astronomical odds – to the DNA found in the victim’s rape kit. The DNA belonged to Manuel Herbert. A Florida law requires some convicted felons, including burglars and sexual offenders, to submit DNA profiles upon their incarceration. The profiles are collected in The Florida Convicted Offender Database. FDLE agents questioned Herbert who was serving time in northern Florida on unrelated charges. He denied ever having been in Key West and said he was in prison at the time of the rape. Having obtained a warrant, the agents swabbed Herbert’s mouth to confirm the DNA match. Once again, the samples were identical. On the witness stand on Thursday, Herbert admitted to lying about never having been in Key West. In fact, he said that when he was here for Fantasy Fest in 2002, he had had so many sexual encounters with different women, that he could not remember all his partners. But he did recall that he had had a consensual sexual encounter with his victim in the men’s restroom of the Epoch nightclub. He further claimed that he did not drink that night – he had only smoked “a little weed.” When asked if he had used cocaine that night, he replied that he never used it, but he had possessed it and “served it.” Thursday’s six-member panel returned a guilty verdict against Herbert in three hours. He is scheduled to be sentenced next month. This was not Herbert’s first encounter with the law. He has been convicted of a string of felonies including battery on a law enforcement officer, burglary of a dwelling with assault and possession of cocaine among others. J. T. Gorman prosecuted the case for State Attorney Mark Kohl. “There are few crimes more loathsome than raping a completely vulnerable woman,” said Gorman. It is our hope that Mr. Herbert’s sentence will put an end to his criminal career for a long, long time.” |
|
Last modified:
10/23/07
* Acrobat® Reader®
required to view these files.
|
