A man arrested after allegedly going on a rampage in Miami Beach while armed with a knife has been charged in a March sex battery case, records show.
Ahraya Crespin, 36, is facing charges including sexual battery, strongarm robbery, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, assault and resisting an officer without violence, Miami-Dade jail records showed.
The alleged sexual battery happened March 27 near the 6800 block of the beach when a woman said a man jumped on her, struck her, removed her clothing and sexually battered her, an arrest report said.
The woman said after the battery he forcibly took her phone from her and told her “If I had a gun, I would shoot you,” the report said.
The victim went to a rape treatment center and on Aug. 26, DNA found on victim matched Crespin, the report said.
By then, Crespin was already behind bars after his arrest the previous day, Aug. 25, in the aggravated assault, records show.
In that incident, officers had responded to the 6900 block of Collins Avenue for reports of a man with knife who was screaming at people and hitting storefront windows, an arrest report said.
A man and two women told officers they were sitting in a restaurant when man “forcefully began striking the storefront window with a knife-corkscrew in hand,” the report said.
They said he was looking at them and started yelling that he was going to kill them, then yelled at one of the women that he was going to rape her, the report said.
The woman said she saw the man, Crespin, approach another man and try to strike him with the knife but the man blocked the attack and fled, the report said.
Crespin then approached a woman who had arrived for work and was locking up her bicycle in a bike rack when he kicked several other bikes in the rack, the report said.
When she looked at him, he yelled at her “you have a problem” and started to approach her, the report said.
“She stated that he then cornered her against the wall as he held both his arms on either side of her with his hands against the wall, preventing her from leaving,” the report said. “She stated that he then said to her ‘I kill you.'”
Crespin fled but was taken into custody. Police found a knife with a corkscrew attached in his shorts pocket, the report said.
The report said Crespin has an extensive criminal history including violent crimes, as well as a 2022 conviction for battery.
On April 2, a week after the sexual battery, Crespin had been arrested for trespassing for allegedly causing disturbances inside the parking garage of the Publix at 6876 Collins Avenue, records showed.
An officer had to use their stun gun on him after he took a “fighting stance” during the incident, an arrest report said.
During Crespin’s appearance before a judge on Monday, a prosecutor asked for an elevated bond based on the allegations and criminal history.
“This is such a violent rape, I think it does deserve an increased bond,” Judge Mindy Glazer said. “A rape of a woman who’s on the beach and goes for a stroll at 1:30 in the morning.”
Glazer set Crespin’s bond at $100,000 on the sexual battery charge.