Key West The Newspaper

Another woman has reported being stalked by a 54-year-old Marathon man recently arrested for harassing another adult woman as well as a teen girl.

Julio Roberto Melendez Chavez was charged with stalking again on Tuesday. He is now charged with three counts of stalking in three separate incidents. He has also been charged with battery and interfering with the custody of a minor regarding the incident with the 16-year-old girl.

On Monday, a Marathon woman contacted the Sheriff’s Office after she saw a picture of Chavez on the Sheriff’s Office website mugshot/arrest page. The woman recognized Chavez as the man who had been stalking her. The woman told Sheriff’s Office investigators that her first interaction with Chavez occurred in August. She said she was riding her bike when a man in a pickup truck, later identified as Chavez, began following her and beeping his horn at her. She said he followed her into the Marathon Publix and told her how pretty she was. The woman exited the store and Chavez was still there. He asked her to get into his pickup truck. She declined and feared for her safety. For the next two months, Chavez parked his truck along the route the woman took as she rode her bike to work. Her husband confronted Chavez, but the woman remained in fear and quit riding her bike altogether.

Regarding the incident involving the minor: Chavez managed to get the 11th grader to follow him into an area where he could talk to her alone, away from friends, while they were at a November 15th Marathon High School soccer game. The teenager told deputies that Chavez said she had “a nice body” and was “sexy.” According to the arrest report Chavez also told the teenager that he liked having sex with kids and that he would “teach her things that would ensure she could keep a man.” He also reportedly told her he didn’t like to wear a condom and that she shouldn’t worry about anything if she ended up pregnant because she could always get an abortion.

[wds id=”99″]

When the teen tried to leave and return to her friends, 4 or 5 times, he reportedly grabbed her each time not allowing her to leave. At one point he kissed her on the neck and grabbed her rear-end. The girl said Chavez insisted she put his phone number in her cell and call him immediately. She said she did so in an effort to appease him in the hopes of thereafter getting away. She said Chavez wouldn’t let her go until she agreed to meet him at the bus stop at Walgreens after the game. She then managed to get away and got a ride home with friends. The girl reported the incident to a Sheriff’s Office deputy at school the next day.

Detectives used Chavez’ phone number provided by the girl to identify him. The two adult women took down his license plate number and detectives used that information as well in identifying Chavez.

The incident reported by the woman Monday was very similar to the account given by another other adult woman. Chavez followed her too and also asked her to get in his truck.

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