16-Year-Old Palm Coast Boy Accused of Raping 5 Year Old Is in Juvenile Justice Custody

A 16-year-old Palm Coast resident is facing a felony charge of sexual battery, or rape, of a 5-year-old boy in an incident reported to have taken place in May in the older boy’s bedroom, in the boys’ home.

Based on interviews that took place with the younger boy at the Children’s Advocacy Center, and interviews between center staff, Department of Children and Family staff and a detective of the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office, and determined that the younger boy was able to distinguish between a lie and a fact. According to a heavily redacted arrest report, the boy was able to call his alleged assailant’s private parts a “penis,” but in the interview referred to privates as “private in the front” and “private in the back.”

The younger boy said nothing happened in the front, but said the 16-year-old allegedly “put his front private into his back private.”

The alleged attack took place in the older boy’s room. The older boy had asked the younger boy to get into his room, according to the report. The younger boy initially refused. The 16-year-old then allegedly forced him, saying that if he didn’t get into the room the younger boy would get into trouble. On one occasion, the younger boy described the older boy picking him up and carrying him into the room.

But on the day when the alleged attack took place, the younger boy said he went along, because he didn’t want to get in trouble. He said the older boy had him lie on his stomach on the bed, and play video games on a phone. The older boy told him not to look as he took off his pants and underwear, according to the report. When he was done undressing, he took the phone from the younger child and then he started “doing it,” in the words of the younger child. Asked what that meant, the boy said, “you know,” and pointed to the crotch and the buttocks.

The older boy was laying on top of him until the younger boy screamed and said he had to go to the bathroom. The older boy then jumped off and put his pants back on. When the younger boy came out of the bathroom, the 16-year-old boy told him that if he spoke, he would get in trouble.

The redacted parts leave unclear the relation between the two boys, the number of incidents that have taken place, if more than one, or the neighborhood where the boys lived.

When an incident of the sort is reported, the child victim is usually interviewed by a trained staffer at the Children’s Advocacy Center in a room on their own, though the interview may be monitored on site, from another room, by law enforcement, because under law, a child may not be interviewed more than three times, total, in such instances.

Detectives, according to a sheriff’s release, said the teenager boy admitted to sexually battering the youngster when questioned about the incident. The teenager was arrested and turned over to the state Division of Juvenile Justice in Daytona Beach.

Sexual battery in Florida is rape–the act of engaging in non-consensual sexual acts by use of force or coercion.