A 15-year-old boy has been taken into custody in West Palm Beach, facing significant charges including sexual assault, armed burglary, and robbery. The charges stems from an incident on March 14, when the teenager allegedly invaded a home, assaulting and robbing the woman inside.
Upon the victim's return home after shopping, around 6 p.m., she found her garage door ominously ajar and spotted an unacquainted bicycle poised nearby. Inside the house, the suspect confronted her, brandishing a firearm and clad head-to-toe in black, including a ski mask. In this harrowing encounter, police say the teenager forced the victim to endure multiple sexual acts, the threat of a gun to her head a brutal punctuation to his demands for her Apple Watch and jewelry. It is reported by CBS12 that the perpetrator continued to forcibly assault the victim multiple times while also demanding her possessions.
The victim attempted to escape the ordeal by negotiating with her attacker, according to the West Palm Beach Police Department. She told the suspect there was more money in the car and later cried out that an additional person was about to come, prompting the suspect to flee the scene. The police apprehended the suspect not far from the crime scene, hiding in a nearby unoccupied house with $342 and the stolen items in his possession.
The young suspect, identified as Mathew Banks, pleaded not guilty to the charges on Tuesday and is currently being held in Palm Beach County Jail without bail. The court has also explicitly ordered Banks not to maintain any contact with the victim nor to possess any weapons. This information was outlined by WPBF. The case against Banks includes two counts of robbery with a firearm, three counts of burglary of a home armed, grand theft of a firearm, sexual assault with a weapon, and burglary with assault or battery – a litany of charges that paints a troubling picture of a juvenile entangled in exceptionally serious crimes.
