A 21-year-old North Miami man already facing felony charges from a 2024 incident at a local KFC is now accused of raping a 15-year-old girl, and he remains locked up without bond as the new charge lands on his docket. Wesky Gillo had his child rape charge added while he was already behind bars, following an August 7 arrest for driving on a suspended license while free on bond from the earlier case.
According to WPLG Local 10, North Miami police say Gillo approached the girl as she walked home from school, exchanged phone numbers with her, and later raped her at her apartment while her mother was at work. Investigators reported the assault took place at the girl's apartment on September 3, 2025, nearly a year after the earlier KFC case. Police say Gillo told the teen he was 17, asked her whether she kept secrets, and told her to touch his penis — a request she eventually complied with out of fear, according to the outlet's report. He also forced her to perform oral sex before leaving after she began to cry, in an assault that police say lasted about five minutes.
Gillo was charged with lewd and lascivious conduct on a child under 16 in connection with the September 2025 assault, and the child rape charge was formally added to his docket on August 11 while he sat in jail. Under Florida Statute 794.011, sexual battery committed by an adult against a minor aged 12 to 15 is classified as a first-degree felony carrying up to 30 years or life in prison, according to Leppard Law. Florida law also establishes that a minor under 16 cannot legally consent to sexual activity, and a conviction would carry mandatory lifetime sex offender registration, per the same legal source.
The KFC Case That Started It All
Gillo's legal troubles trace back to October 2024, when he worked at the KFC located at 701 NW 119th St. in North Miami. Police say that on October 7, 2024, Gillo unlocked a restroom door there for a girl under 16 who had asked to use it, then began unbuckling his belt and unzipping his pants in front of her. The girl locked the door, but Gillo reunlocked it with a key, and she then bolted out of the bathroom after he made a lewd request, the station's report states.
North Miami police arrested Gillo two days later, on October 9, 2024. He was initially charged with lewd and lascivious conduct as well as an offense related to transmitting child sexual abuse material, but court records as of August 12 show prosecutors with the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office elected not to pursue the transmission charge. Committing lewd or lascivious conduct in the presence of a child under 16 is a second-degree felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison and a $10,000 fine under Florida law, according to Richard Hornsby P.A., which notes the offense is treated as a strict liability crime in Florida, meaning defenses based on alleged consent or mistaken age do not apply.
Alibi Undone by Surveillance Footage and Phone Records
Gillo initially claimed he was outside sending text messages while the girl was inside the KFC bathroom, according to the police report cited by the outlet. He allowed officers to search his phone to support that claim, but detectives instead found evidence that contradicted him: restaurant surveillance footage showed the underage victim running out of the restroom after Gillo unbuckled his pants, and a forensic examination of his phone proved he had not been texting outside during the encounter as he claimed. Investigators also reported finding a saved pornographic video of a child engaging in sex on Gillo's phone, per the North Miami Police Department's report.
Public booking records show Gillo, then 20 and living in North Miami, had a prior documented law enforcement contact in Miami-Dade County dating to November 30, 2023, according to Florida Arrests Org, more than a year before the KFC incident.
Held Without Bond Under Florida's Pretrial Detention Law
As of August 12, Gillo remains jailed without bond at the MetroWest Detention Center in Doral. Under Florida Statute 903.0471, courts have the authority to immediately revoke pretrial release and order a defendant held without bond when there is probable cause that the person committed a new crime while out on bond for a prior offense, according to the Sammis Law Firm. Florida's mandatory pretrial release conditions require all defendants to refrain from criminal activity while on bail, and Gillo's August 7 arrest for driving on a suspended license triggered that mechanism.
When a defendant faces new violent felony charges while already jailed on a bond violation, the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office typically files a formal motion for pretrial detention asking a judge to order the suspect held without bail through trial, per the same legal explainer. It remains unresolved whether prosecutors will file such a motion in Gillo's case, why nearly a year passed between the alleged September 2025 assault and the August 2026 charge addition, or whether the dropped charge tied to transmitting child sexual abuse material could resurface as the case moves through Miami-Dade Circuit Court.
Department Touts Crime Drops Amid High-Profile Case
The North Miami Police Department is led by Chief Cherise Giordani Gause, appointed in August 2023 as the city's first Haitian-American female police chief after 30 years with the City of Miami Police Department, according to the City of North Miami. In July, the department reported notable citywide reductions in violent crime over the preceding year, crediting targeted community engagement and expanded technological tools under its strategic plan, per the city's own announcement. MetroWest, where Gillo is now held, operates as one of Miami-Dade Corrections and Rehabilitation's principal pretrial detention facilities within a county jail system with an overall capacity of 5,381 inmates.
