Donovan Tyler Adkins (Brevard County Sheriff’s Office)
A 29-year-old Florida man was left stunned when he allegedly tried to rape a woman at gunpoint only to have the victim respond by looking at him and his exposed penis and telling him “he would have to shoot her first,” the local sheriff said.
Donovan Tyler Adkins was taken into custody on Friday and charged with a spate of felonies, including aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, sexual battery using a deadly weapon or threat of force, false imprisonment, and robbery with a firearm or deadly weapon, court records obtained by Law&Crime show.
According to a sworn affidavit of probable cause, deputies with the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office in the early morning hours of Feb. 10 responded to a call regarding the incident at Pineview Park, located on Merritt Island.
The victim told deputies that she and her boyfriend were ordered out of their tent by a male – later identified as Adkins – who was brandishing a black 9mm handgun. She said Adkins accused her and her boyfriend of “robbing his people.” He then ordered the female out of the tent and told her boyfriend to remain, the affidavit says.
Adkins then allegedly led the victim into another area of the woods at gunpoint and ordered her to “get on her knees and perform oral sex on him with his penis exposed from within his red shorts” while simultaneously “pointing the handgun at her face.”
The victim’s boyfriend told investigators that he heard Adkins say “shut up b—-, I’ll shoot you,” and “suck my d— b—-.”
“The victim refused to perform the sex act and stated to Mr. Adkins that she would not perform the sex act and he would have to shoot her,” the affidavit says. She then began screaming for help. As her boyfriend began to approach the two on foot, Mr. Adkins stumbled over a bush which gave the victim the opportunity to flee. Mr. Adkins began yelling that he would shoot her in the back as she ran away.”
The couple made it back to their tent, but shortly after they arrived, Adkins allegedly returned and held the gun on them again, this time demanding the victims’ cellphones. After taking the phones, Adkins allegedly fled the area and the couple contacted authorities.
Investigators said that a witness at the park was able to identify the alleged assailant as Adkins. The deputy who took the victim’s statement wrote that he knew Adkins “from previous law enforcement encounters and believed him to be a viable suspect” in the alleged crime. Adkins had also recently been the subject of a call in the area involving persons with firearms, the sheriff’s office said.
Shortly after speaking with investigators, the victim contacted the sheriff’s office again and said that she “was able to independently locate and identify her attacker.” She was even able to send the detective photographs of Adkins at an apartment complex located in the 200 block of Ligustrum Lane. Deputies responded to the apartment complex and took Adkins into custody just after 5 p.m. on Friday.
Adkins is currently being held in Brevard County Jail on $36,000 bond, jail records show. He is scheduled to be arraigned on Tuesday.
Read the affidavit below.
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