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Tampa Teen Charged In Library, Day Care Rapes

Tribune photo by JAY CONNER

Kendrick Morris, shown in court Thursday with his mother, Lisa Debra Stevens, is charged in two rapes.

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By THOMAS W.  KRAUSE | The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 13, 2008

TAMPA - Prosecutors today filed nine adult charges against a 16-year-old accused of two rapes, Assistant State Attorney Pam Bondi said.

Kendrick Morris soon will be moved from the Juvenile Assessment Center to one of the two Hillsborough County jails.

Prosecutors had 21 days after Morris' arrest to charge him as an adult. The deadline would have expired on Friday. Bondi previously said prosecutors had planned to charge Morris as an adult since his arrest but were working carefully.

The charges relate to two cases, the April 24 rape of an 18-year-old at Bloomingdale Regional Public Library and the rape of a day care worker on June 28.

Authorities say Morris, a Bloomingdale High School freshman, was at the library to wait for his mother to get off work. The 18-year-old woman was returning books. Hillsborough County sheriff's detectives say he beat the girl unconscious.

Morris faces charges of kidnapping, aggravated battery with great bodily harm and two counts of sexual battery with injury.

After his arrest, DNA linked him to the rape of a worker at Children's Lighthouse Day Care Center, prosecutors said. In that case, he faces charges of armed burglary, armed robbery, attempted sexual battery and two counts of sexual battery.

If convicted, he faces up to life in prison, Bondi said.

Reporter Thomas W. Krause can be reached at (813) 259-7698 or tkrause@tampatrib.com.

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