Sex offender charged in multicounty rape, kidnapping case

Flagler, Volusia sheriffs say crimes crossed county lines

VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. – Authorities in Flagler and Volusia counties said Wednesday they have arrested a man on sexual battery and kidnapping charges related to crimes that crossed county lines, WKMG reports.

Obtravies Watkins, a 34-year-old registered sex offender, is charged with sexual battery using force, kidnapping and driving with a suspended license.

Authorities said Watkins did not know the victim. Deputies said Watkins approached the victim as she was walking home on Fremont Avenue around midnight Monday and asked for sex in exchange for $70, to which the victim agreed.

Watkins took the victim from Fremont Avenue at U.S. 1 in Daytona Beach to the Ormond Beach Post Office on Williamson Road where he injected drugs, then to James Ormond Park, where the two had sex, according to the report.

When the victim told Watkins that she no longer wanted to have sex, he punched her in the face and sexually assaulted her as he was driving up and down Old Dixie Road, the affidavit said.

Watkins told the victim he had a gun and was not afraid to use it on her, according to authorities. He pulled over at an unknown location and raped her, then drove her to a different location near a dirt road and raped her again, the report said.

The victim told deputies that she was then taken to an area near Pecos Drive and Old Kings Road in Flagler County where Watkins raped her and choked her to the point of unconsciousness twice, according to authorities.

Deputies said Watkins left the woman naked in the woods. She ran to a nearby intersection around 9:25 a.m. Monday and flagged down motorists who gave her clothes and called 911.

"She’s hurt everywhere," the 911 caller said. "She’s got cuts all over her."

The call said he and other motorists stopped to help the victim after seeing her "naked and crying" on the side of the road.

Watkins was arrested Tuesday and booked into the Volusia County Jail. When confronted with photographs of the victim's injuries, he told deputies,  "I must've went overboard," the affidavit said.

Watkins has a criminal history in Flagler County dating back to 2002, according to Florida Department of Corrections records.

In 2004, Watkins was convicted on attempted molestation charges of a victim over 18 years old. In 2010, Watkins was sentenced to five years in prison for using the internet to lure a child for sex.

Watkins is registered on the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s Sexual Offenders and Predators website.