Windermere police arrest sexual battery suspect

WINDERMERE Eighteen months after the Windermere Police Department began its investigation, detectives arrested sexual battery suspect Darryl Wayne Patterson, 49.

Police Chief Dave Ogden announced Patterson’s arrest June 1. Patterson, of the 10000 block of Bayshore Drive in Windermere, faces a charge of sexually battering a victim physically helpless to resist. The case will be referred to the State Attorney’s Office for prosecution.

“On Dec. 29, 2014, Detective (John) Allen first became aware of several potential sexual battery cases involving Mr. Patterson when an unrelated fraud case was reported,” Ogden said. “Evidence pertaining to these cases included photos of women in various stages of undress, video cassettes and DVDs. This evidence was located at the Windermere Police Department and reviewed by Detective Allen.”

Allen received a tip April 8, 2015, in which an informant said Patterson had attempted sexual battery.

“On April 30, 2015, members of the Windermere Police Department and the Orange County Sheriff’s Office executed a search warrant,” Ogden said. “During the execution of the search warrant, computers, mobile phones, electronic media and video cassettes were among the items seized as evidence. Twenty-eight additional recordings were recovered as a result of the search warrant, all similar in nature.”

Ogden said further investigation had enabled the police to confirm identities of people in those videos, such as the victim in this particular case, who was unaware of what had transpired in the video until speaking with Allen. Windermere police ultimately procured an arrest warrant for this case and uncovered a case within Brooksville Police Department’s jurisdiction, which Ogden said Brooksville Detective Tracey Schofield would investigate further and handle.

“At the time of this arrest, other female victims remain unidentified,” Ogden said. “The investigation into their identities, whereabouts, and well-being remains open and ongoing.”

According to police reports, Allen had begun by investigating at least three possible sexual batteries and one attempted sexual battery recorded on video by Patterson. Allen’s investigation revealed Patterson had performed sexual acts on three female victims while they were incapacitated.

Reports of the incidents surfaced in 2012, and the most recent related sexual incident at the time of the executed search warrant had occurred in February or March 2015 and was reported to Allen April 18, 2015. In that incident, a victim had taken two alcoholic drinks from Patterson and became nauseated and semi-conscious. At that point, Patterson tried to force himself on the victim, according to reports.

Patterson had reported a fraud incident to Allen and met with him Dec. 29, 2014. After that meeting, Officer Jeff Czwornog informed Allen of an investigation into these incidents by former Windermere Sgt. Gene Powell. Powell had closed the investigation without identifying victims or determining their state, at the request of former Lt. Arthur Mueller.

Mueller said he had never seen the footage, prepared any reports or reviewed any reports from Powell on the incidents. This led to Allen reopening an investigation.

The witness who provided the videos — initially to Orange County Sheriff’s Office on July 28, 2012 — had taken the cassettes and other items when she moved from Patterson’s home.

“We want to continue to ... encourage victims of sexual assault or sexual battery to come forward,” Ogden said.

Ogden requests anyone with information relative to potential victims who could be connected to Patterson contact Crimeline at (800) 423-8477, Windermere police at (407) 876-3757 or Allen at (407) 909-5306 or [email protected].

Contact Zak Kerr at [email protected].