CLAY COUNTY, Fla. – The results of a rape kit led investigators to the arrest of a Green Cove Springs man, who was also at the center of a high-profile sexual assault case in Bradenton, according to Orlando Police.
Leslie Hammock, 58, now faces multiple charges of aggravated sexual battery. He's being held in the Orange County jail after his arrest in Clay County on Oct. 12.
According to an arrest warrant, the suspected assault happened in November of 1983. The victim was riding a bike home from work when she was grabbed at knife point and raped behind a building.
In 2015, Orlando police linked Hammock’s DNA to the 1983 assault using a rape kit. Before filing charges, they had to track down the victim who changed her last name and moved to Missouri.
Hammock was already in prison in 2015 for an assault conviction in Manatee County that started as a sexual assault case in 2010. In that case, Bradenton police said Hammock pointed a gun at a woman and forced her into his minivan.
They drove to a vacant trailer where the woman told police she was beaten and sexually assaulted. She told police she lost consciousness then woke up unclothed and in pain.
There wasn’t enough evidence to convicted Hammock for aggravated sexual battery so the charge was amended to aggravated assault. He was sentenced to seven years in prison but only served six.
Neighbors told News4Jax that since summer of 2018, Hammock had been living in a trailer about a mile away from where he was arrested.