Law and public safety

Criminal case moving forward again for suspect in violent sexual assault of UF student

Antwine Johnson, a 32-year-old Gainesville man, attended a short hearing Wednesday before Judge Phillip Pena for his felony cases involving an alleged kidnapping and rape. On Sept. 20, 2021, Johnson allegedly kidnapped and attempted to sexually assault a woman jogging on the side of the road. The same morning, he dragged a woman from her front doorstep, beat her behind bushes, raped her and stole her phone, leaving her unable to call for help. Later the same morning, he is accused of felony battery of his girlfriend. Johnson was arrested soon after and has been held in jail since. Johnson will appear in court again next week for misdemeanor charges for disobeying the judge’s orders not to contact any of the alleged victims when he tried sending a postcard to his girlfriend. Johnson will appear for a case management hearing on Oct. 26 for the charges of kidnapping, battery and rape.

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No evidence that widely circulated report is true about fentanyl stabbing near UF campus

Authorities at the University of Florida say there is no evidence that a report circulating across UF’s campus is true, that a young woman was jabbed with a needle and unwittingly exposed to a high dose of the dangerous drug fentanyl. City and university police said they are aware of the report, which is spreading widely over social media and word of mouth. They are trying to identify its origins. The incident purportedly took place inside a popular Midtown bar across the street from campus last week. The bar’s manager and both police agencies said there were no reports of such an attack.

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Police: Car on fire, with only 3 tires driving through darkness near UF campus

Imagine this: A witness called police to report a silver station wagon on fire with only three tires being driven along one of the city’s roads that border the University of Florida campus. When police tried to pull the car over, the driver didn’t immediately stop. Authorities accuse 23-year-old Adrian Vincent Hernandez of Gainesville of fleeing police, resisting an officer and driving with a suspended license. It wasn’t clear whether the driver was missing a spare tire or didn’t know how to change one. Police said Hernandez told them he didn’t stop because he just wanted to get home in the hours after midnight Sunday.

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