8-Year-Old Sexual Battery In Plant City Closed With Arrest This Week

PLANT CITY, FL — The Plant City Police Department said it has cleared a 2015 sexual battery case with the arrest of Leonel Sotelo Cortez, 30, of Lakeland.

During the early hours of Jan. 31, 2015, a woman reported that she had just been sexually assaulted in the area of the 4100 block of West State Road 574 in Plant City. The woman was taken to a hospital for treatment from injuries sustained during the encounter, according to police.

On Oct. 18, the Plant City Police Department received a Combined DNA Index System match from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement belonging to Cortez.

Further tests confirmed a DNA match with Cortez.

On Feb. 1, an arrest warrant was issued charging Cortez with one count of sexual battery causing injury, one count of false imprisonment and one count of criminal mischief.

Cortez was arrested by the Tampa Police Department on Feb. 3, and booked into the Orient Road Jail.