Truck driver arrested on charges of attempted rape, battery
Duke City woman says she was offered ride, assaulted
A California truck driver is behind bars in Santa Fe, facing charges of attempted criminal sexual penetration, aggravated battery and aggravated assault after an Albuquerque woman accused him of offering her a ride and then trying to rape her.
According to a criminal complaint filed Wednesday in Santa Fe County Magistrate Court, Jimmie Lawrence, 49, of Hughson, Calif., told New Mexico State Police officers he was getting food at a taco restaurant in Albuquerque on Tuesday when he saw a woman lying on the ground outside. He gave her a few dollars, a sweater and offered her a ride.
The woman told state police she had been drinking alcohol for three days and was cold when Lawrence gave her a sweater and offered her a ride. She said she fell asleep on a bed in Lawrence’s truck as he started driving toward Santa Fe, and she woke up with
Lawrence trying to take off her pants. “He then pinned her arms down, bruising and scratching them,” the criminal complaint says.
The woman said Lawrence told her he was going to rape her and then choked her and threatened her with a knife, according to the criminal complaint.
When the woman told Lawrence, “You have two kids; you don’t want to do this,” he stopped choking her and started to cry, the complaint says. It doesn’t specify how she knew the man had children.
Lawrence kept driving to Santa Fe, the woman said, and dropped her off at Santa Fe Place, where she reported the incident to mall staff, who followed the man’s truck and called the police.
The complaint says the woman had visible hand marks on her neck and was taken to a nurse examiner office in Albuquerque.
Police found Lawrence in his truck, parked along Interstate 25, the complaint says, and interviewed him about the allegations. He denied attacking the woman or trying to remove her pants, according to the court document. He did tell police that he had asked the woman to have consensual sex because he thought she was interested in him, but she said no.
State police arrested Lawrence and charged him with attempted rape, the complaint says, because of the statements made by the victim, physical evidence, and “inconsistencies and ultimate disclosures made by the suspect.”
A Magistrate Court judge on Wednesday afternoon ruled Lawrence must pay a bond of 10 percent of $7,500 to get out of jail. In the court order, the judge wrote that the Lawrence has “a lengthy court history as it relates to violence,” has eight alias names and several alias birthdates and Social Security numbers.
Lawrence had not posted bond as of Wednesday afternoon, court records show.