LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY) — Lafayette Police have arrested a man who they say jumped into the back seat of a woman’s vehicle at a gas station in the 1100 block of Mudd Avenue with the intent of raping the victim he had been following on social media.
Police Spokesperson Sgt. Robin Green said Damonta Anderson, 19, of Opelousas, was arrested Tuesday and charged with one count first degree rape, (in an unrelated incident) one count aggravated kidnapping and two counts attempted first degree murder.
He was booked into the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center with $1.1M bond.
Last month, a Lafayette woman who claimed she was a survivor of an attempted rape shared her story of a man who she found in the backseat of her vehicle after pumping gas.
She talked about the incident to her more than 15K social media followers and recalled how the suspect, while pointing a gun to her head, told her as she drove off that he had been following her on Instagram and that “dudes like him don’t get a chance to be with girls like me.”
Before she was pistol whipped, she said, the suspect was firm about one thing.
“He told me in order for him to let me go I would have to sleep with him.”
That claim, she said, led her to the bold decision to jump out of a moving vehicle near her grandmother’s home and flee to safety.
“I might save someone’s life right now, I’m terrified scared for my life. I went to a gas station to pump gas and when I finished pumping my gas I drove off and a dude put a gun to my head,” part of the story read.
After the story went viral and police corroborated the events on the social media video, a full investigation began, Green said.
Weeks of reviewing surveillance video and speaking with multiple people allowed police to identify Anderson as the suspect, Green said.
He was arrested without incident, she said.