One arrested in Apollo Beach restaurant rapes

Sheriff's officials in Hillsborough County say they've arrested one man in connection with the robbery, abduction and rape of two women leaving an Apollo Beach restaurant early Saturday.

Rigoberto Moron Martinez, 20, 1425 Zulia St., in Ruskin, was charged with eight counts of sexual battery, two counts of armed robbery, two counts of armed kidnapping and one count of grand theft auto for his role in the early Saturday attack.

According to an arrest affidavit, Martinez and two other men approached a 24-year-old woman outside The Docks, a bar at 6520 U.S. 41 N,  around 3:30 a.m. and demanded her purse at gunpoint.

Soon after, the second victim - a 31-year-old woman - exited the restaurant and the men forced both women into the 24-year-old's truck. They went for a drive and returned to the bar, where two of the men forced entry into the bar and stole $300 from the register. 

Back in the truck and hands bound with duct tape, the women were driven to an unknown location and raped. the affidavit shows. They were put back in the truck and driven to another location, where the 31-year-old woman was raped again.

Deputies say this photo, captured by an ATM surveillance camera, shows Martinez trying to withdraw money from one of the victim's bank accounts just moments after the attacks.

Martinez was also charged in connection with two incidents that occurred last month, including a July 19 incident where investigators say he approached a pair of 17-year-old girls walking on U.S. 41 and Elsberry Road at gunpoint, then grabbed them by their necks and led them to a vacant parking lot.

The girls started screaming, and Martinez ran away, deputies said.

He was also charged in connection with a robbery and rape that took place early on July 3. In that case, an arrest report shows Martinez was one of two men who forced open the door of a Gibsonton home, aimed a gun at a man's head there and took a 23-year-old woman from the shower before raping her in the bedroom. Martinez and the other man left the home with an armful of stolen goods. One of the victim's was left bound by duct tape.

Martinez was arrested near 13th and Center Streets in Wimauma about 9 p.m. Wednesday. Jail records show he was booked into the Orient Road Jail and held without bail.

Casey Cora, Times staff writer