Key West The Newspaper

 

On August 23, deputies arrested Giovanni Alberto Fernandez, 25, for allegedly breaking and entering into a Marathon home with a knife and assaulting a woman in her bedroom.

On August 18 at around 5:20a.m., a man broke into a couple’s home and attacked a woman while she was in bed shortly after her husband left for work. According to reports, the suspect jumped on top of her, placed her in a choke hold and held a cloth over her face.

The suspect said “Where is the money?” and “shut the fu*k up b*tch.” He grabbed the victim by her hair and began pulling her towards the bedroom door, leaving a large clump of hair on the floor.

The woman fought back by spinning around and kicking the man in the groin several times as he continued to drag her to the front door. Reports state that the suspect was trying to put the deadbolt on the door as she continued to fight back, and he grabbed a seashell on the table and was about to strike her with it – but did not. He instead left the home.

Although she did not get a clear look at him, reports say the suspect was wearing latex gloves; a long-sleeve, white shirt; basketball-style shorts and some sort of cloth over his mouth. She said he was possibly a white male around 5-foot-8 (or 9) in height.

According to reports, a number of items were left behind at the scene that did not belong to the couple including a white-handled filet knife on the kitchen counter (scratch marks were found on the door consistent with a sharp object), and two, white latex gloves near the stairs and door. There was also a white piece of cloth at the entrance of the stairs, and a light and dark blue “Pelagic” fishing hat outside in the yard.

Deputies were informed of a rumor as to who two possible suspects could be, and that a box of white gloves were kept in the truck that those two people used.

Reports also say that the night of the incident (but before the break in), Fernandez was driving a friend’s truck that “everyone at the docks” used when he was stopped by police. At the time of the stop, he was wearing a Pelagic hat and a pair of baggy red shorts. White latex gloves were in the truck. He said after the stop he slept on his friend’s couch and did not leave until the next morning.

His friend confirmed Fernandez slept on his couch and when he woke up at noon Fernandez was still on the couch. He stated that he was not sure if Fernandez left the house at any point while he slept in the other room.

When deputies asked Fernandez if he owned a blue Pelagic hat he confirmed that he did, but that he didn’t have it anymore because hats fly off and he lost them all the time.

A witness told police she saw a similar truck driving up 25^th Street in Marathon (near the victim’s home) several times before the time of the burglary. Video surveillance of 25^th Street also shows a dark truck matching the one Fernandez was driving, and a man on a bicycle wearing a long white shirt and red baggy shorts shortly after the time of the burglary.

Fernandez is being charged with armed burglary, battery, and false imprisonment.  His bail was set at $510,000.

 

See related news story (with video): (Detectives need help finding home invasion/battery suspect)

Note: Information in the crime report is provided by area law enforcement. Please remember all suspects are innocent until proven guilty.