GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Richard William Blackwelder, 45, is facing a sexual battery charge after Gainesville police said he allegedly assaulted a homeless woman while she was sleeping.
According to a Gainesville Police Department officer’s report, the woman regularly slept at the same abandoned building. She told investigators she knew Blackwelder only as a friend of her boyfriend and said she had never been in a romantic relationship with him, though he was aware of where she stayed at night.
The woman said the incident happened sometime during the night of June 17 or in the early hours of June 18, 2025. She reported waking up alone to discover her pants had been pulled halfway down. When she looked up, she allegedly saw Blackwelder standing over her completely naked with his genitals exposed. She said she immediately confronted him and asked what he was doing, but he did not respond. Instead, she told police, he quickly gathered his clothes, pillow and blanket before walking away.
After the woman reported the alleged assault, a sexual assault evidence kit was completed at Shands.
Investigators received the results in October 2025, and the findings reportedly indicated DNA from the victim as well as at least one male contributor.
About a week later, a deputy went to the Alachua County Jail, where Blackwelder was being held on an unrelated case, and interviewed Blackwelder.
RELATED: Russia Poised to Strike British Drone Factory, Missile Firm
Post Miranda, Blackwelder reportedly said he had met the victim through her boyfriend, but he adamantly denied ever having sex with the victim; he said he didn’t know why she would make that accusation.
In November 2025, deputies learned that the male DNA from the sexual assault kit matched Blackwelder’s sample, which “directly contradicts [Blackwelder’s] statement that he never had [or] attempted to have sex with the [victim].”
A warrant for Blackwelder’s arrest was issued in April 2026, and he was arrested on June 1, 2026, in Temple Terrace, Florida, after allegedly giving a false name to a Temple Terrace Police Department officer during a consensual encounter.
Blackwelder has been charged with sexual battery. He has seven felony convictions and three misdemeanor convictions; he has served one state prison sentence and was released in 2002. He also has an unspecified out-of-state history. On August 28, Judge Susanne Wilson Bullard granted a motion from the State Attorney’s Office to hold him without bail until trial.