An 18-year-old East Naples man who is in the
Collier County jail awaiting trial on an attempted sexual battery charge has
been charged with a second sex attack based on a DNA match made while he was
behind bars.
Johan Herrera, 5370 Sholtz St., was arrested
Tuesday and charged with sexual battery in connection with a July 18 attack on
a woman in East Naples.
The victim was in a parking lot at 5130
Rattlesnake Hammock Road at 1:30 a.m. when a man approached her from behind,
threw her to the ground and sexually assaulted her, according to Collier County
Sheriff’s Office reports.
This week detectives were notified that the
FBI’s Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) had identified Herrera as a suspect
based on DNA collected from the crime. Detectives interviewed Herrera at
the Naples Jail Center on Tuesday, and he confessed.
At the time of his arrest, Herrera was in
jail awaiting trial for an Aug. 1 attempted sexual battery in a parking lot
located at 11225 U.S. 41 E. in East Naples.
In that case, the victim told detectives that
she was in the parking lot waiting for a friend when she was approached by a
man who asked her to go back to his place. The man grabbed her, punched her in
the face and attempted to sexually assault her.
The woman was able to run away and summon
help.
The attack was captured on video surveillance
and a bulletin was issued with photos of the suspect. On Aug. 23, a CCSO deputy
saw a man wearing a hat who matched the surveillance photos in the bulletin.
The man appeared to be wearing the same hat as in the photos.
Through further investigation detectives
identified the man in the photos as Herrera.
The victim positively identified Herrera as
her attacker. Deputies arrested Herrera on Sept. 7.