Telegraph Staff Writer
STARKE— A Bradford County jury on Thursday, March 23, convicted a 20-year-old Starke man for sexual battery by a person under 18 on a person 12 or older.
According to an April 2020 Starke police report, Jaycob Thomas Voiles, then 17, and a friend took the victim to Voiles’s room at the Bradford Motel and Campground. The victim and a witness told police that after the other people in their group left the room, the victim felt tired and laid down on one of the room’s beds.
“(The victim) told (a witness) that Voiles then came over to her and began touching her and kissing her,” wrote Starke Police Detective Courtney Personette in a warrant affidavit. “(The witness) stated that (the victim) told her that she was telling Voiles no, but Voiles grabbed her by the neck and kept kissing her.”
The victim added that Voiles then sexually battered her.
Voiles’s account of the incident agreed with the victim’s to the point where the other people in the room left the pair alone.
“Voiles stated that he and (the victim) were laying in the same bed but were not touching one another.,” wrote Personette. “Voiles stated that he and (the victim were just hanging out and talking when she looked over at him and started kissing him.”
The defendant added that “things escalated,” but the pair did not engage in sexual intercourse, and the victim did not tell him “no.”
“Voiles stated there was nothing forced about the situation,” wrote the detective. “Voiles advised that (the victim) hung out with him for the remainder of the night until they took (other people) home.”
Personette said Voiles provided her with text messages from the victim to himself after the alleged battery took place.
The 20-year-old will be sentenced in April.
