Some in a crowd gathered for a party in an apartment courtyard chased the suspect after two girls came outside and said he had fondled them.
By KEVIN GRAHAM
Published May 10, 2004
TAMPA - Enraged neighbors on Saturday chased a 35-year-old man for seven blocks and beat him with baseball bats after two girls said he showed them a pornographic tape and fondled them, police say.
Jeffrey Dennis Butler, of 5904 82nd St., Tampa, was in jail Sunday without bail, charged with two counts of sexual battery on victims younger than 11. Butler faces capital sexual battery charges, which could come with a life sentence.
The two girls kept quiet about the incident for almost 10 hours because they were afraid they would get into trouble, authorities said.
According to the police report, Butler went into the room where the girls were asleep in a North Boulevard Homes apartment along West Spruce Street about 8:45 a.m. Saturday. He put a pornographic movie in the VCR and grabbed the girls while lying on the bed. No one else was in the room.
"He then put both victims onto him and rubbed their bodies" against his own, the report said. He had sexual contact with one of the girls and exposed himself to both, police said.
Butler, the boyfriend of the woman who lives in the apartment, has lived with the family for about three weeks, neighbors said.
It was unclear Sunday what the relationship was between the girls and the woman who lived at the apartment. Neighbors said she wasn't their mother. A woman who answered the door Sunday at the apartment declined to comment.
The girls ran downstairs and woke up a sleeping female adult, but they didn't tell what happened until about 7 p.m.
Neighbor Richard Smith, 34, said a crowd had gathered in the apartment courtyard for a birthday party when the girls came outside to tell their story.
"When it started out, everybody was trying to weed out what happened," Smith said. "The two little girls were telling the same story."
The father of one of the girls talked with both of them to verify their story, Smith said, then he confronted Butler. Butler "swore he didn't do it," Smith said.
Butler and the father started arguing, and Butler started running.
"When half the project caught wind of what was happening, everybody took off after him," Smith said.
Elijah Jackson, 15, who lives next door to the girls' apartment, said neighbors chased Butler across the street to Blake High School's baseball field, where a baseball game was going on. Coaches tried to keep them off the property, Jackson said, and the chase continued down the block. It was not clear if this is where the neighbors picked up baseball bats.
The chase continued for seven blocks, police said. When the neighbors caught up with Butler, they beat him with bats. About 30 minutes passed between the time the girls told their story and when the police made the arrest.
Paramedics treated Butler at Tampa General Hospital for minor injuries and then police took him to jail. A mug shot taken at the jail showed Butler with a puffy right eye.
The two girls did not suffer any serious physical injuries, police said. The investigation is ongoing.
"I wouldn't care how often he confesses, that's one thing that's unforgiveable," said Smith, who has five children.
He said it's important for the family of the girls to stand by them and make sure they get therapy.
Records show Butler has been arrested at least three other times in Hillsborough County since 2000. The charges include gambling and obstructing an officer without violence.
"It's unfortunate that this had to happen, but he should have expected to get beat up like he did," said Alice Pleasants, 50, another neighbor. "I would feel like my home would have been violated if it happened to me. I think she really loves those children. It's a sad Mother's Day, especially for them."
