Fugitive Task Force arrests accused rapist

Mark Samson reported to Historic City News this morning that members of the Florida Regional Fugitive Task Force of the US Marshal Service have taken 52 year-old Hiram Curtis Kearse into custody on a sexual assault charge that is a life felony.

St. Augustine Police Detective Corporal Charles Simpson said that Kearse, who lives at 430 Francis Street in St. Augustine, sexually battered a 33 year-old female victim while using a deadly weapon.

Evidence collected at the crime scene on September 15th, as well as at Flagler Hospital’s Sexual Assault Unit, was consistent with the victim’s account of that day’s attack.

The victim was shown photographs, and, according to Samson, “almost immediately identified Kearse as the assailant”.

Kearse was arrested yesterday and remains in custody, without bond, at the St. Johns County Detention Facility.