For hours, he raped her, beat her and threatened to set her on fire, cops say

A Hialeah man was arrested Friday after raping, beating and threatening to kill a woman for several hours Thursday night, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office said.

The 28-year-old victim, who was not named, told sheriff’s deputies that she and Jorge Moreno, 34, checked into the Amara Cay Resort in Islamorada around 5 p.m. Thursday when he demanded her cellphone. He became angry when she refused, and began to hit her and rape her, she said.

For several hours as he attacked her, he also threatened to kill her and her child, deputies said. He forced her into the bathroom and held a towel over her face so she could not breathe, the woman later said, and ran water over the towel so she would feel like she was drowning.

Moreno also allegedly poured tequila over her and said he would set her on fire, the woman said. Moreno instead fell asleep after he could not find a lighter.

Around 1 a.m. Friday, Moreno drove the woman north to Card Sound Bridge, where he repeated his threats to kill her — this time by pushing her off the bridge. The victim told a Monroe County detective that she had begged Moreno to let her see her child, and that Moreno also threatened to kill her parents and himself.

Moreno eventually took the woman to her parents’ home in Cutler Bay Friday, deputies said, then left to return to Islamorada. The victim called the sheriff’s office, which put out an alert. A Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officer spotted Moreno’s vehicle Friday afternoon in Plantation Key and called deputies, the sheriff’s office said.

Moreno was arrested and charged with four felony counts of attempted murder, false imprisonment, sexual battery and battery, according to jail records. He was then booked into county jail, where he remained Saturday without bond.

This story was originally published August 28, 2017 at 7:18 AM with the headline "For hours, he raped her, beat her and threatened to set her on fire, cops say."