A woman has been freed after a trucker kept her in his truck against her will for eight months.
The suspect, 53-year-old truck driver Robert Johnson, was booked on November 21st after letting the woman go at a truck stop in Cocoa, Florida.
According to 9 ABC, the unnamed victim met Johnson in Delaware while looking for business as a prostitute. She says that, soon after meeting him, she got into his truck to take him to buy drugs, but when she asked to go home a few hours later, he responded by telling her that she ‘didn’t have a home’ and then her in the face so hard that one of her front teeth was knocked out.
The victim was then kept in the truck for eight months, during which time she was “under constant threat from beatings, sexual assault, gun to her head, constant threats,” said Yvonne Martinez with Cocoa Police Department. “She began to accept that was her fate.”
Then, earlier this month, Johnson fell asleep with his cell phone within reach and the victim decided to use it. After Johnson realized she had used his phone, he told her to leave the truck, and she was free.
The victim was then able to provide police with a detailed description of the truck, and Johnson was found and arrested a short time later. He has since told police that his relationship with the victim was consensual, but a child who was allegedly used to ‘keep tabs’ on the victim told police that they had witnessed Johnson abusing the victim.
Martinez says that the child may have been victimized as well, and that the FBI will soon be getting involved in the case.
The unnamed child has since been placed in the custody of the Department of Children and Families, and the unnamed female victim is currently in a shelter.
Johnson was denied bond on Tuesday, November 23rd. It is not clear what charges are currently pending against him.