Lake County jury finds one of six men charged with rape of 14-year-old girl in Eustis guilty
TAVARES — Woodrow M. Butler, one of six men charged with raping a 14-year-old girl who had run away from a children’s shelter in Ocala, was found guilty by a Lake County jury Thursday.
“I was a child,” she told the 63-year-old Butler in an impact statement after the jury found him guilty of lewd and lascivious battery. “I was vulnerable, and you took advantage of me.”
She was passed around from one man to another by a man who collected money from her attackers, was left hungry and given drugs to keep her in a daze for two days.
The Daily Commercial is not naming the woman because she is a victim.
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What happened
After leaving the Arnette House in Ocala, the girl made her way to Eustis on Feb. 14, 2018, where she stopped at a store on East Orange Avenue. She said a woman and two men approached her.
The arrest affidavit said she began telling the trio about her “recent adventures” after leaving Ocala, “became comfortable with the three and began walking around with them.”
They ended up at a home known as “Poppie’s House.” People said he lived there with his girlfriend and two children.
There was a shed behind the house that had been converted into an apartment, and that is where the woman lived with a man named Steven.
Soon, the group, along with “Poppie,” began taking the drug MDMA, known as “Molly.”
She said she lost her virginity to Poppie, then was raped by a man nicknamed “Red.” That man was Butler. When they were finished, the men walked over to Steven and handed him money.
That night, she said, she was raped by a man named “Moses.”
The next day, she took more Molly and was taken to the home of a man named Jermainne. Steven told him he could have her for two hours. She said Jermainne gave her a drug known as “concrete,” which is heroin cut with fentanyl. She said she could not remember much after taking the heroin mix.
When they returned to the shed, Jermainne gave Steven money.
Shortly after that, she was raped by someone named “Fofo.”
“Of all the men in this case, you are the worst,” the woman told Butler. “The fact that you used every single possible way to get out of taking accountability is unfathomable to me.”
'I'm relieved'
Butler’s father was initially arrested for the crime. She blasted him for letting him sit in jail and then had “the nerve to wipe away tears” when his name was mentioned in court.
“You treated me like garbage,” she added. “Like I was disposable. After this incident I could not eat. I spent the majority of my nights scratching and sitting in the bath for hours because I was so itchy. I stayed in a motel with my mom for a week because I was too unnerved to go home. I had to go to the hospital a couple of days later for hemorrhaging.”
Someone eventually took her back to the store in Eustis. A store manager helped her get a ride to Ocoee to see her ex-boyfriend.
Once the ex-boyfriend heard her story, he took her to the hospital and police were called.
After being examined by a nurse, genetic material was collected and investigators found a DNA match to John “Poppie” Quashie, who is now 34.
Moise S. “Moses” Graham, is now 30.
Another man was arrested but charges were dropped.
Rabess 38, was sentenced to nine years in prison, Hodge to 12 years Graham to 12 ½ years. Scott and Quashie are awaiting trial. Graham pleaded no contest to the charges against him, including being a habitual felony offender.
“I’m relieved and just glad justice was served today,” she said after court was adjourned.
Circuit Judge Larry Metz has set sentencing for June 22.
This article originally appeared on Daily Commercial: Man guilty of raping 14-year-old in Eustis; he was one of six charged
