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TAMPA - Police have arrested a Tampa man on sexual battery charges in connection with an assault on a South Tampa hair salon employee Tuesday.
Roger Dale Carter Jr., 25, of 3401 W San Juan St., was held in jail Tuesday night without bail. Police charged him with sexual battery with a deadly weapon, armed burglary of a structure and kidnapping to commit a felony.
Police credited quick action from a witness, who wrote down a license plate number, with providing crucial information that led to an arrest.
Police spokesman Joe Durkin said sometime about 1 p.m., a man was seen going in and out of stores at a strip mall at the 4200 block of South Dale Mabry Highway. "He had gone in and out of of a couple stores, then entered a hair cutting place where an adult female was working alone," Durkin said.
The man sexually battered the woman, then took off in a white Toyota Tacoma, Durkin said. A witness outside the salon heard the woman screaming for help and wrote down the license plate number. Durkin said police spotted the truck a few miles away, at the corner of West Granada Street and South MacDill Avenue, and arrested the driver.