Man charged in sexual battery, kidnapping

PORT RICHEY -- A 30-year-old Port Richey man is facing sexual battery and kidnapping charges stemming from an incident Wednesday involving a 17-year-old girl.

Here is what a Pasco sheriff’s office report said: A witness said around 2 a.m., a female suspect tried to stab the 17-year-old as she sat in the passenger seat of a car with the window rolled down.

The suspect’s boyfriend pulled her away from the car and told the 17-year-old that she could avoid being stabbed if she gave them her laptop. So the girl handed the computer to the suspect and her boyfriend.

Then, two of the suspect’s male friends drove the girl to an unknown location on U.S. 19, flashed a gun and said they would shoot her if she didn’t have sex with them.

After the girl was sexually assaulted, she was driven to Main Street and U.S. 19 in New Port Richey and let out of the car. (The Times does not identify victims of sexual assaults).

The men fled, but using a photo line-up, the girl identified Jose Manual Marcano as one of the men who kidnapped and sexually assaulted her. Marcano, of 11105 Pine Tree Lane, is being held in lieu of $300,000 bail at the Land O’Lakes jail.

Police are looking for the second man who sexually assulted the girl and the female suspect who took her laptop.

--Times staff writer