Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Man faces sexual assault charges

Turned down by a woman, he plied her teenage children with liquor and pills, police say.

By Times Staff
Published August 23, 2005

TAMPA - Police say Dwayne Warren Gerard went to the Econo Lodge Saturday night with plans to entertain a woman.

But when she decided not to join him, Gerard brought her 14- and 15-year-old sons to the motel room - where he served them alcohol and pills before sexually assaulting one and trying to assault the other, according to a police report.

Tampa police arrested Gerard, 46, of 1512 W Union St. in Tampa on Sunday afternoon. He was booked into the Orient Road jail on two first-degree felony counts of sexual battery on a victim older than 12, jail records show. He is being held without bail.

Police say Gerard picked up one of the boys Saturday and brought him to the Econo Lodge at 1810 E Busch Blvd., according to the police report.

The woman told Gerard she wasn't going to join him at the motel. Gerard went back to her home and picked up her other son, police said. He decided to keep the boys in the motel with him because he had already paid for the room, according to police.

Gerard gave both teens alcohol and pills, which knocked them out, investigators said.

Gerard assaulted one of the boys. As he tried to assault the other, the teen woke up and Gerard left the room, according to the report.

A motel employee found the teens inside the room, "appearing very intoxicated," police said. The employee called for an ambulance, and the boys were treated at University Community Hospital.

Police arrested Gerard at the motel a few hours later.

According to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Gerard was convicted in Pinellas County of grand theft auto in 1997 and was sentenced to time served.

[Last modified August 23, 2005, 07:20:23]