When his ex-girlfriend refused to talk, Bradenton man sexually assaulted her at work
A Bradenton man was angry when his ex-girlfriend kept rejecting his attempts to contact her, so he showed up at her job and forced his way into the massage parlor. He then dragged her and a coworker by their hair room by room, hitting them and forcing them to perform sexual acts.
He will now spend the rest of his life in prison for terrorizing the two women.
Brandon Williams, 29, was found guilty by a jury on May 16 of two counts of sexual battery, two counts of kidnapping to terrorize, one count of robbery, one count of battery and one count of trespassing.
On Thursday, Williams was sentenced to life in prison by Circuit Judge Edward Nicholas.
"We applaud the courage of these women to report this cruel and vicious attack," Assistant State Attorney Rebecca Muller said in an issued statement. "Without their fortitude to face this criminal in court, justice could not be served. However, because of their testimony, along with the investigative efforts of law enforcement and careful consideration of the jury, the defendant will no longer be a threat to them or other members of our community."
On Thursday, Williams also pleaded no contest to a count of witness tampering for calling the victim from jail to tell her not to testify — or if she was forced to testify that she should lie.
"I love you and I miss you and I need you to do this for me," Williams said to her at the time of the call.
Williams had been released from prison for less than 10 months when he showed up at his ex-girlfriend's job at a massage parlor, Lacey's, 1417 Cortez Road, on Feb. 16, 2017. When he rang the doorbell at the back door, she answered. But when she saw it was him, she asked him to leave.
But Williams pushed past her and began punching her and dragging her around the room by her hair. Her clothes began to rip in the struggle and he ordered her to take more off. Her co-worker heard the commotion and when she saw what was happening, she began to yell at Williams to stop. Instead of stopping, he grabbed her by her hair and dragged her into the room and starting punching and slapping her.
Williams forced them into another room, where he ordered them to take off their clothes and demanded cash that one of them had in a pocket. Both women were then forced to perform sexual acts.
At one point, Williams' attention turned to money and he attempted to break into a room where the women told them money was kept. After failing to open the door with scissors, he continued to force them to perform sexual acts as he held the scissors in his hand.
Williams, who had taken their cellphones and the parlor's phone, eventually walked out the door. When one of the women went to lock the door, he came out of hiding and began beating her. After he left again, they waited until they thought he was gone, crawled out a window and ran to a nearby Bob Evans restaurant for help.
At the time of his arrest in April 2017, Williams was found at the home of another woman who he had been involved with and had a court-order domestic violence injunction preventing him from having contact with. Williams was also charged with violating the injunction — not his first violation of the injunction. He later pleaded no contest to the violation and was given credit for time served.
Williams' criminal history also includes convictions for false imprisonment, possession of cocaine, providing false information to a pawnbroker and two counts of robbery.
This story was originally published June 8, 2018 at 5:21 PM with the headline "When his ex-girlfriend refused to talk, Bradenton man sexually assaulted her at work."