16 months after alleged rape, DNA evidence leads to arrest of suspect
B O CA RATO N — S i x t e e n months after a woman said she was raped by a security guard in her Boca Raton apartment, DNA evidence led to the arrest of her alleged a t t a c ke r, a c c o rd i n g t o a police report.
Joshu a Rober t s on, 3 6, f a c e s c h a r g e s o f s e x u a l assault and burglary. He was released Friday on $50,000 bond from the Palm Beach County Jail.
I n D e c e m b e r 2 0 1 5 , a woman went with her boyfriend to the Boca Raton Police Department to report a rape. She said she was with friends in her apartment when two security guards came to her door and asked for her specifically — which she told police she thought was strange since she didn’t know them. They told her to keep the noise down. She and her friends left the apartment soon afterward.
S h e s a i d s h e re t u r n e d around 4 a.m. to get a cellphone charger and noticed one of the two guards at her apartment. The guard, later identified as Robertson, followed the woman into her apartment without her permission, then into her bedroom, where he held her down and raped her, according to the report.
Video surveillance footage shows Robertson going up the st airs that lead to the woman’s apartment in the same time frame when the woman told police she was raped, according to the report.
Robertson told police he had a lawyer and would not speak with them. Then his lawyer said he’d give a written statement, according to police. Soon after, the lawyer said he would not be saying anything at all and that his client denied any sexual contact with the woman.
Police spoke with the other security guard on duty that night. He said the t wo of them did go to the apartment for a noise complaint earlier that evening. Hours later, the security guard said the woman was smoking on a balcony and asked if they wanted to join her. They declined. Soon after that, the woman left with friends again, but then came back to look for something in her apartment, according to the report. The security guard said Robertson followed her. Less than 10 minutes later, Robertson was back at the desk and said the woman started talking her clothes off. The security guard said he told Robertson, “I hope you didn’t do anything.”
The woman was examined at Wellington Regional Medical Center and her underwear was taken as evidence. A warrant was issued to get Robertson’s DNA. The evidence and his DNA were sent to a crime lab for testing.
It wasn’t until this month that the results came back and confirmed that DNA found on the underwear matched Rober tson, the report said. He was arrested April 13, according to jail records.
Robertson, who lives in Deerfield Beach, also was arrested in March on charges o f o r g a n i z e d s c h e me t o defraud, according to Palm Beach County court records. The case remains open.