An armed man who kidnapped a woman in downtown Fort Lauderdale, drove her around for two hours and sexually assaulted her on Aug. 12 has been arrested, police say.
The incident was one of two similar carjacking and kidnappings to take place in the same area within a week, but detectives no longer believe the two are related.
Louvensky Accime, 24, is now charged with two counts of robbery with a firearm, two counts of kidnapping, two counts of armed robbery-carjacking, aggravated battery, and possession of a weapon by a convicted felon. Additional charges are pending as detectives continue their investigation, said Casey Liening, a spokesperson for Fort Lauderdale Police.
Accime is accused of approaching a woman and a man in their car near the 100 block of Southwest Second Avenue about 5 a.m. Aug. 12. The man ran away, and Accime got into the driver’s seat, drove the woman around for two hours, then let her go. She called 911 later that morning from her broken-down car on Interstate 95.
Last Friday, six days after the Aug. 12 incident that Accime is charged in, a man was carjacked in the early morning by an armed suspect and forced to drive around for two hours. Police had originally said that the circumstances appeared “similar.”
But it would have been impossible for Accime to commit the second crime because he was already in custody at the time on unrelated charges, Liening said.
Accime was arrested on Aug. 15 in Lauderdale Lakes, inmate records show. He was charged with resisting an officer without violence and violation of his probation for a previous case in which he pled no contest to burglary of an unoccupied dwelling, dealing in stolen property, and giving false ownership information.
Later in the day on Friday, police arrested another man, Lias Corker, 34, of Lauderdale Lakes, after they pursued him through Broward and Palm Beach while he was driving the second victim’s stolen car, a Kia Optima.
Corker faces charges of aggravated fleeing and eluding, reckless driving and driving with a revoked license, but he has not been charged in the second carjacking case.
“The second incident remains under investigation and detectives are working diligently to identify the suspect responsible,” Liening said. “Anyone with information is encouraged to contact us immediately.”
Anyone with information anyone can contact Broward County Crime Stoppers at 954-471-8477.