MIAMI (WSVN) - A Miami man with a history of violent offenses has been arrested on charges of armed sexual battery, kidnapping and burglary with assault after allegedly attacking a 20-year-old woman in her downtown apartment.
Diontae Blackman, 26, was taken into custody by Miami-Dade Police Tuesday at his home in Northwest Miami-Dade.
Blackman is accused of entering the victim’s Downtown Miami apartment on the 35th floor on the night of Aug. 26, threatening her with a broken glass bottle, and forcing her to engage in sexual acts.
According to the arrest report, the victim was sitting on her balcony when she noticed Blackman, a stranger, standing in her kitchen.
When she questioned him, Blackman “took his right hand and ran his thumb from left to right across his neck area with the top of the broken glass bottle in hand,” the report states.
The victim reportedly told police that she “believed this gesture implied that her life was in danger.”
Fearing for her safety, the victim complied as Blackman directed her to a bedroom, where the assault occurred, according to the report.
Miami Police Officer Michael Vega provided more detail on the crime.
“She realizes that the suspect was in her kitchen, so she confronts him asking him in Spanish, ‘What are you doing here?'”
While police said the woman told them there was a language barrier between her and Blackman, his threats were understood loud and clear.
“He had the top of a broken bottle and told her to go to the room. He also did a motion like saying ‘I’m going to kill you if you don’t go to the room,” he said.
The 20-year-old victim reported the incident to her roommates, who returned to the apartment shortly after. They spotted a man matching Blackman’s description leaving the building and attempted to detain him, but he fled the scene, according to the report.
Surveillance and doorbell camera footage reportedly confirmed the suspect in the building before and after the attack.
A rape kit was conducted at the Roxcy Bolton Rape Treatment Center, and investigators obtained forensic evidence linking Blackman to the crime.
“We still had to present the victim with a photo line up which she identified him and said ‘Yes, I never had consensual sex with this man,'” said Vega.
Police had kept tabs on him since August as they were gathering more evidence but didn’t want to scare him away from Miami so they kept him at arm’s length.
“We knew who he was, we were watching him, but we didn’t want him to get spooked and leave the City of Miami, go out of the country, and avoid being arrested or captured,” said Vega.
Woman in the area told 7News they are frightened.
You could not go to your apartment and somebody’s is coming anytime, it’s very dangerous,” Aurora Rojas said.
Blackman has a prior history of violent crimes, including a 2021 attempted sexual assault in Brickell, where he attacked a woman with a metal pipe before she fought him off and called for help. Blackman was on probation from the previous case at the time of his arrest on Tuesday.
At the time of his 2021 arrest, Brickell residents were breathing a sigh of relief that Blackman was caught.
“Thank God!” said one woman.
“I feel a lot safer now,” said another woman.
“Glad to know they caught him, glad to know that everybody is OK,” said a third woman.
He was charged with burglary as the 2021 sex crime charge was dropped.
But three years later, things are not OK as Blackman struck again.
Blackman appeared in court on Wednesday.
“The charges are burglary with an assault or battery, armed sexual battery,” said Judge Mindy S. Glazer.
In court, prosecutors said the facts of this case are very similar to the 2021 crime he is on probation for.
Now, Vega hopes Blackman remains behind bars.
“This is a man that has done it before. Just did it, and if he’s let out, will probably do it again. So we’re just hoping the courts work with us and that they keep this man behind bars,” said Vega.
Blackman is currently being held without bond.
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