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Thursday, April 25, 2024
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U.S. marshals arrest suspect in sexual assault incident near Midtown

On Monday afternoon, U.S. marshals arrested the man suspected of sexually assaulting a woman near Midtown last week.

Christopher Noel Gonzalez Cruz, 24, is accused of kidnapping and then assaulting a 19-year-old woman on Sept. 11 after the two met at Midtown, according to Alligator archives.

After the assault, which took place inside Cruz’s car, the woman began to scream, so Cruz quickly drove away. University Police eventually pulled him over for speeding, at which point the woman reported the sexual assault, according to archives.

Cruz then ran from police, and he remained on the run until marshals found him in Eagle Lake, which is located in Polk County, Florida, according to a statement issued by GPD.

A warrant was issued for Cruz’s arrest, and he was considered to have fled to the Winter Haven, Florida, area. The Gainesville branch of the U.S. Marshals Florida Regional Fugitive Task Force then asked the Tampa branch for help, according to the statement.

Cruz was considered dangerous and likely to run away, according to the statement.

Marshals found Cruz as he left his brother’s house in Eagle Lake, and four vehicles blocked his vehicle so they could arrest him, according to the statement.

Authorities arrested Cruz on charges of sexual battery and kidnapping and nonrelated charges of trespass and burglary. They took Cruz to the Polk County Jail where, as of press time, he is awaiting transfer to the Alachua County Jail.


 Man found with morphine

A Fort Myers, Florida, man was found in Gainesville on Tuesday with a bottle full of morphine pills and other narcotics, Alachua County Sheriff’s Office authorities said.

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At about 3 a.m., deputies with the sheriff’s office found Robert Hunter Beal, 35, hunched over a curb in the 600 block of NW 69th Terrace, according to a police report. Crushed pills laid by his feet, and a pill bottle bearing someone else’s name sat beside him.

With his legs stretched out and his head down by his lap, Beal appeared to be sleeping when deputies approached him, according to the report.

Inside a bag he carried, the deputies found a pill bottle containing several different types of narcotics, including 16 morphine tablets, 18 Alprazolam tablets and 11 acetaminophen and oxycodone hydrochloride tablets, according to the report.

Elsewhere in the bag, deputies found a silver scale and a glass smoking pipe, according to the report. In his wallet, they found a Suboxone sublingual film, which is used to help treat opioid dependency.

Beals told the deputies most of the pills were prescribed to his wife but that he uses them to treat pain in his back and hand, according to the report.

Deputies arrested Beal on four charges of possession of a controlled substance and one charge of possession of drug paraphernalia.

Authorities took him to the Alachua County Jail where he remains, as of press time, in lieu of a $14,000 bond.


Man stole car to make court appointments

A Florida man was arrested Monday after stealing a brand-new Buick to go to court, Gainesville Police said.

At about midnight Sep. 9, Marquis Donison Gross, an 18-year-old Micanopy, Florida, resident, stole a white 2016 Buick Enclave SUV from a Gainesville car dealership and later posted a Facebook video of him driving it, according to a police report.

A confidential source reported the stolen car to GPD on Sept. 13 after seeing Gross drive it through Southern Pine Apartments, according to the report.

On Sunday, the Santa Fe Police Department found Gross getting into the car, according to the report. Gross told police that he knew the car was stolen but that he didn’t steal it — he needed the car to make court appointments, he told police.

Gross has been arrested four times before for stealing cars from the Gainesville Buick GMC Dealer, located at 2101 N. Main St., according to the report.

Gross has stolen between five and seven cars from the dealership, according to the report.

Police arrested Gross on a charge of grand theft auto and two charges of burglary. Authorities took him to the Alachua County Jail where he remains, as of press time, in lieu of a $100,000 bond.

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