DELTONA, Fla. — A Deltona man is being held on $202,000 bail after he was accused of punching a woman in the head in front of her 3-year-old child, pulling the victim into a bedroom in her house, and then forcing her to have sex.
After a violent confrontation, the partially clothed victim managed to break free from her attacker, grab her son and flee the house, authorities said.
The Volusia County Sheriff’s Office responded to the call at 4:38 a.m. Sunday after the victim showed up at Florida Hospital Fish Memorial in Orange City, seeking medical treatment.
Deputies said the incident started Saturday night at an outing in Ormond Beach, where the victim and her boyfriend joined a group of friends, including the suspect, 32-year-old Jonathan Angilusso, at a birthday celebration.
Deputies said the couple, who live in Deltona, had previously met Angilusso. When they learned that he also lived in Deltona and needed a ride home, they agreed to take him.
Deputies said the three then proceeded to the couple's house, arriving at about 3:30 a.m. Sunday, and once there, the victim and her boyfriend got into an argument.
Authorities said Angilusso used the quarrel as a ruse to get the boyfriend out of the house, telling him that he needed to leave for a while and cool off or he would call the police to report the fight.
Deputies said the boyfriend agreed to leave and drove his car down the block. But as soon as he was gone, the victim said Angilusso punched her in the head, with the child looking on, and then forced the victim into a bedroom where he locked the door and sexually assaulted her.
After the sexual assault was over, the victim said she tried to get away. But she said Angilusso choked her to the point that she blacked out two different times. The victim said when she came to and started fighting back, Angilusso threw her against a closet door, and then another.
Deputies said wearing nothing but a shirt, the victim managed to escape from her attacker, grab her child and flee the home. The victim said she was able to call to her boyfriend, who ran home to get her and take her to the hospital.
When deputies inspected the couple's house, they said they found signs of a physical struggle, including damage to the doorframe of a bedroom closet.
The victim With the help of the Ormond Beach Police Department, investigators were able to identify Angilusso and track him down to his home on Leeward Drive in Deltona. Angilusso was taken into custody, but not before he changed out of the clothes that he wore during the attack, authorities said. Angilusso was taken into custody on an unrelated open warrant for public assistance fraud while the Sheriff's Office continued its investigation. After obtaining a search warrant for Angilusso’s house, investigators retrieved the clothes that he took off before his initial arrest, deputies said. Deputies said that during questioning, Angilusso claimed that the sex was consensual and the victim's boyfriend had caused her injuries. Deputies said they charged Angilusso with sexual battery and kidnapping. He's being held at the Volusia County Branch Jail in Daytona Beach. WFTVsustained bruises to the side of her neck, bicep and forearm and bruising and swelling to her cheek, where she had been punched.
