The Lee County Sheriff's Office has arrested a 16-year-old male in connection with an occupied burglary and aggravated assault on Streetsboro Lane in Bonita Springs Tuesday. That's when a 15-year-old girl told detectives she fought off a masked intruder who threatened her with a knife.
Fox 4 is not identifying the 16-year-old suspect due to his age.
The girl told detectives she was alone in the house sleeping on the couch at around 7:00 a.m. Tuesday, when she heard the front door open and then close. Someone suddenly grabbed her arm, pulled her to the floor and started choking her.
The girl said her attacker wore a mask and held a knife, and yelled "Let's go!" as he tried to drag her towards the bedroom. That's when she recognized the voice as someone she had dated from school. Afraid of what he might do to her, she fought back and told him she knew who he was.
The girl said that at that point, the attacker dropped the knife and ran into the bedroom, locked the door behind him, and went out the window.
"If she didn't get the knife from him, something more wrong (was) going to happen," said Humberto Lopez, the girl's stepfather.
Deputies searched surrounding neighborhoods for the suspect, and eventually tracked him down later that day on Carolina Street.
"We're glad about that," Lopez said. "He is in the place where he needs to be."
The teen suspect faces charges of burglary with assault or battery and assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill. He is being held in the Lee County jail with no bond.
