The son of a longtime UF employee was charged with sexual battery after turning himself in on Christmas morning.
Tommie C. Howard III, 25, of Hawthorne, called University Police on Dec. 25 and said he would come into the station. Two days earlier, UPD Chief Linda Stump announced Howard was a suspect in the Nov. 29 rape of a UF student.
Howard III was charged with sexual battery without physical force, a second-degree felony, and he is being held at Alachua County Jail. As of press time Sunday, Howard had not made bail, which was set at $150,000.
His father, Tommie C. Howard Jr., worked for UF for 40 years before retiring in September 2010, according to The UF Advisor blog. Howard Jr. most recently worked as an ombudsman, a job in which he served as a middleman between students and the senior academic officer.
In June, Howard Jr. became a Hawthorne city commissioner after running unopposed. He did not return the Alligator's calls requesting comment about his son's arrest.
Howard III was identified as a suspect in the Nov. 29 rape after DNA evidence from the case linked him with a previous battery case, said Maj. Brad Barber, UPD spokesman.
The rape victim, a 20-year-old UF student, told police she left 101 Cantina with a man she didn't know on Nov. 29. He raped her in his car somewhere between the bar and campus, and she escaped around 1:45 a.m., according to the police report.
A student driving on Fraternity Row noticed the victim being chased by a man. She told the victim to get in her car and took her to Shands at UF.
As of press time, Howard III had not been ruled out as a suspect in an attempted rape on Dec. 9 near Sorority Row. No charges had been filed in that case as of press time.
The victim in that case, also a UF student, was getting in her car parked near Norman Hall and the Campus USA Credit Union at 1200 SW 5th Ave. around 10 p.m. on Dec. 9. A man wearing a ski mask then jumped in the car and held a knife against the victim, according to a police report. After she climbed into the back seat, the victim faked an asthma attack and the suspect ran away.
Alligator staff writer Emily Morrow contributed to this report.
