TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - A Tallahassee man has been arrested for kidnapping and sexually assaulting a victim he befriended and let sleep in his car.
Eugene Cuff, 56, faces one count of kidnapping to facilitate the felony of sexual battery and three counts of sexual assault upon a victim over 12 years of age.
On the night of June 17, Cuff forced the victim to have sex with him in his car, according to a probable cause affidavit.
The victim said she had formed a friendship with Cuff while living at The Kearney Center but had been trespassed from there, so Cuff let her sleep in his car.
Over about three weeks, she said, Cuff parked the car in a different location each night as they slept. She said she regarded Cuff as a father figure and a friend, and the two of them had never been sexually active.
On the night of June 17, the victim told a Tallahassee Police Department investigator Cuff had drank numerous alcoholic beverages while driving them around town and eventually she fell asleep in the car's front seat.
When pressure on her stomach awoke her, she said she saw Cuff trying to put his hand down her pants, so she rejected his advances. She said she asked him two or three times to stop and then tried to get away from him.
As she left the car to get her bags, Cuff followed her outside the car and began to "choke her," she said, and she fainted. She awakened on the ground shaking, with him telling her to get up.
The victim said she tried to get up and grab her bags to leave, but Cuff made her drop her bags and tried to strangle her again. This time, the victim didn't pass out.
After Cuff punched and slapped her around, she stated to investigators, "I just gave up! I just felt helpless like I couldn't do anything. I wanted to run but ... I just couldn't."
Cuff then directed the victim to get in the car, with him pulling by her hair, and in the front seat Cuff began to sexually assault her and punched her when she didn't cooperate. After a while, he pulled her out of the car and moved her into the back seat.
In the back seat, he continued to sexually assault her, the victim told police, and hit her when she tried to fight him off or did not respond as he wanted.
Eventually, Cuff stopped assaulting her and started driving around, so the victim fell asleep. Upon awakening, she asked Cuff for a Black and Mild and he stopped at the Marathon Gas Station at 2415 Jackson Bluff Road.
The victim said that when Cuff entered the store, she ran about two blocks and knocked on a door for help. After, she hid behind someone's car until law enforcement arrived.
Cuff was arrested Thursday and remained in the Leon County Detention Center on bond totaling $75,670 Friday.
His first court appearance was scheduled for Friday morning.
