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Deputies Arrest Teen In Library Attack

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Kendrick D. Morris, 16, was arrested without incident at a Robindale Road home at 4:15 a.m., according to a Hillsborough sheriff's office media release.

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By MIKE WELLS | The Tampa Tribune

Published: April 26, 2008

Updated: 04/26/2008 08:43 pm

CLAIR-MEL Friends and family of Kendrick D. Morris say they can't believe authorities think he's capable of raping and beating a woman into unconsciousness.

"The people who know my son, know he's not capable of doing something so horrific," said Lisa D. Stevens, 36.

The 16-year-old Bloomingdale High School freshman was arrested early today in connection with the sexual assault of an 18-year-old female outside the Bloomingdale Regional Library on Thursday night.

The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office said forensic evidence and witness statements tie Morris to the crime but officials will not elaborate.

"There's still additional work to be done in terms of lab processing," Hillsborough sheriff's office Chief Deputy Jose Docobo said. "But we did link him directly to items of evidence that were located at the scene."

The attack happened Thursday night outside the library, which is just east of Bloomingdale High. The victim had driven to the library in a white Toyota RAV4 to return some books and was talking to a friend on her cell phone when she mentioned seeing a "weird guy" on the benches, according to friend's 911 call.

The friend told authorities she heard a scream and the call was lost.

The friend and her family rushed to the library and found the victim's Toyota with its lights on. The victim was lying unconscious about 60 feet from the building's northwest corner, officials said.

She was hit with an unidentified object and suffered broken bones in her face, sheriff's spokesman J.D. Callaway said. She remains unconscious in stable but critical condition at Tampa General Hospital.

The victim is a local high school student but does not attend Bloomingdale High, according to officials.

Docobo said the case was "extremely difficult," particularly since detectives were unable to talk to the victim.

Morris was arrested at 4:15 a.m. today at his family's home at 7402 Robindale Road, Callaway said. He faces two counts of sexual battery with great bodily harm and one count each of kidnapping and aggravated battery.

The suspect refused to talk to detectives and was taken to the juvenile assessment center, Callaway said. A search warrant to take DNA samples was served on Morris at the time of his arrest. He will be charged as an adult at a later date and transferred to Orient Road Jail, Callaway said.

Florida Department of Law Enforcement records show Morris was arrested twice in 2005 and once in 2004 on charges of cruelty to animals. Two charges were third-degree felonies; the third was a first-degree misdemeanor.

The records do not detail the circumstances behind the charges, and the outcome of each case is not public information because of Morris' age.

"He was chasing some ducks on private property," Stevens said. "He didn't kill an animal."

The mother said even if the rape charge is dropped or he's found not guilty that the accusation will always tarnish his reputation.

"He has to find a way to find a life after being accused," Stevens said.

Stevens insists her son is innocent.

"They have the wrong person," Stevens said. "That's not something he would do."

Two of Morris' Bloomingdale schoolmates, one riding a bicycle and the other a skateboard, stopped to talk in front of his home today . They described him as a friendly teen who has never shown any aggression in front of them.

"This was a big shocker to me," said Joseph "J.B." Brown a junior at Bloomingdale. "It's like, Kenny? No way. This doesn't sound anything like him. He's been in trouble before, but not anything like this."

Brown, 17, said he has known Morris for about a year and that they often ride skateboards together.

Morris played for the school's football team as a lineman until this spring when he had to miss several practices to attend an after-school tutoring program in an attempt to bring up his grades, Brown said.

"He's not tough at all," Brown said. "He's just like a regular kid and is kind of goofy at times."

Freshman Sha-Ron Anthony, 16, said he is still stunned by the news.

"He's not aggressive at all," Anthony said. "Kenny's the quiet one."

Anthony said Morris often hangs out at the Bloomingdale library after school lets out and waits for his mother to pick him up after she gets off work at night from her catering and bakery business in Ybor City. Sometimes that was as late as 10 or 10:30 p.m., he said.

"He stays at the library and she comes to get him later," Anthony said. "It's not uncommon. He's there every day."

If Morris was sitting outside the library on Thursday night, his mother could not legally drive him home anyway, records show.

Exactly one hour prior to the victim's friend calling 911 about the attack, Stevens was being released from a county jail, records show.

She had been there since Tampa police arrested her shortly before midnight Monday and charged her with a second-degree misdemeanor of driving without a valid license. As a result, she was also charged with a probation violation.

Stevens was arrested April 26, 2007, on two counts of aggravated child abuse, according to FDLE records. She later pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of contributing to the delinquency of a child and in February was placed on probation for one year. Details of the case were not available Saturday.

Authorities identified Morris as a suspect Friday, saying they were relying on a terse and horrifying 911 call and tidbits culled from neighbors around the library.

"They only have one thing linking my son and that's that he's at the library every day until close and that's it," Stevens said.

Her son had no bruises or scratches that would come from such an attack, Stevens said. She said a detective told her that her son was considered a suspect primarily because he frequents the library.

"Who they should be looking for is a man, like the young lady was saying on the phone," the suspect's mother said.

Stevens said she is praying for the victim and her family.

Reporter Carlos Moncada contributed to this report. Reporter Mike Wells can be reached at (813) 259-7839 or mwells@tampatrib.com.

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