Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Matthew Ian Hernandez, 18, was arrested this morning and charged with sexual battery on a helpless victim after allegedly having unwanted intercourse with an 18-year-old woman at a fraternity house party.

A University of Florida Police Department officer responded to the UF Health Shands emergency room last night, where the victim reported that Hernandez had sexually battered her in a bathroom during a house party at the Theta Chi Fraternity.

The victim said Hernandez gave her several alcoholic beverages, and she became “extremely intoxicated”; she said that at some point, she and Hernandez began arguing, and she went upstairs. She said Hernandez started repeatedly texting her, asking her where she was; she eventually told him, and he went to her location.

The victim said the details of the incident were not clear because she was intoxicated, but she said she remembered lying on the floor of a bathroom while Hernandez sexually battered her, and she remembered Hernandez bending her over, with his hand on the back of her neck and her face pressed against the bathroom door, while he again sexually battered her.

She said he became increasingly aggressive, and at one point she saw blood on the floor and realized it was hers. She said she never gave consent to have intercourse and was too intoxicated to be able to give consent.

Post Miranda, Hernandez reportedly said he and the victim attended the house party together and were being “touchy” with each other. He said they both consumed several alcoholic beverages, and he said he gave the victim two drinks at the party. He said that he and the victim went upstairs to check on the victim’s friends, the victim said she needed to go to the bathroom, and he followed her into the bathroom to make sure she was okay.

Hernandez reportedly said “things escalated a bit” in the bathroom and admitted having intercourse with the victim. When asked whether the victim had been willing to have intercourse, he reportedly said, “Honestly, I don’t remember. I just know that she ended up below me and it happened.” He reportedly was unable to answer how the victim ended up on the floor; he said she thought she just sat down, but he was unsure.

Hernandez said that at some point, the victim asked him to stop, and he did; he said it was possible that he had put his hand on her neck during the incident.

Hernandez said people started knocking on the bathroom door, and he was “just trying to make sure that before we walked out that at least she was somewhat composed.” The officer asked Hernandez if he did not want anyone to see the victim crying, and he reportedly replied, “yeah.” Hernandez reportedly said he noticed that the victim was bleeding but didn’t know where the blood was coming from. He said he did not believe he had taken advantage of the victim, but “I don’t know now because I don’t remember all of it.”

The officer wrote that the investigation showed the victim was “unable to provide consent and was physically helpless at the time of this incident.”

Hernandez’s address is listed as Pembroke Pines; he has no local criminal history. Bail will be set on Monday morning.

Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.