Man arrested for sexual assault

A 44-year-old Stock Island man was arrested Tuesday night for sexually assaulting a woman on his boat last month.

Miguel Ernesto Pestano was charged with sexual assault.

The victim, who is from Marathon, told Major Crimes Detective Danielle Malone she was at a Key West bar in the early morning hours of Jan. 6, 2018  when she was separated from a friend. She later met a man, identified as Pestano, who offered her a place to sleep on his boat. She accepted. The boat was anchored off of the Key Haven boat ramp on Stock Island just off U.S. 1. While taking a kayak out to the boat, Pestano tipped the kayak over, forcing both to swim to the boat in cold water. Once inside, she got out of her wet clothes, wrapped herself up in towels and went to sleep.

The woman told Detective Malone she awoke to find Pestano performing oral sex on her. She said “no” and tried to push him away. The woman said Pestano told her if she didn’t like it she could leave, which she inferred to mean by jumping off the boat and swimming to shore in the dark, cold water. Pestano then had intercourse with her against her will while she continued to say no. She told Detective Malone that when she started to cry, Pestano told her he “didn’t want to hear it.” He told her that she should be “grateful” and to “stop playing the victim.”

The next day an unidentified man who was passing by in a dinghy took Pestano and the victim ashore. Once ashore, Pestano told her she was welcome on his boat anytime. The woman alerted the Sheriff’s Office the next day.

The victim identified Pestano in a photo lineup. The victim’s description of the boat matched what Detective Malone found while conducting a search warrant.

A warrant with a $75,000 bail was obtained on Jan. 12 and Pestano was arrested and taken to the Monroe County Detention Center on Stock Island Tuesday night.

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