ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla.- On Wednesday a 25-year-old Jacksonville man was arrested after being accused of offering to take a 21-year-old woman with him to go smoke marijuana and then trying to force her into his SUV.
St. Augustine Police Department arrested William Ross Cesery III on a charge of attempted kidnapping. Shanna Kuenzi, 21, was out job hunting when the incident occurred.
According to the police, Kuenzi was walking on a sidewalk along Orange Street in St. Augustine at about noon Wednesday when a Chevrolet SUV pulled up beside her.
The police report says that Cesery also offered the young woman lunch and marijuana and told her she was beautiful. The whole time he kept asking her if she needed a ride.
Kuenzi told News4Jax that she repeatedly told the man no, but he wouldn’t take no for an answer.
“He got tired of me saying no and he pulled out in front of me into some random guy’s driveway and was like, he got out of his car, and was like, ‘You’re beautiful’ and started grabbing me. And when he grabbed me, he pulled me into his car like he was going to take me forcefully,” Kuenzi told News4Jax.
She immediately called police after she was able to fight Cesery off and he sped away. On her way back to the police station after writing a report, her and the officer drove past Cesery’s vehicle.
The officer asked Kenzi if that was the vehicle and she said yes. The officer got out of his car with guns and told Cesery to “get on the ground.”
Police took Cesery into custody and booked him into the St. Johns County Jail.
Cesery has been arrested six times since 2007 when he suffered a head injury in a boating accident and has never been the same since, says sources of News4Jax.
In 2011 he was arrested on charges for possession of drugs and resisting an officer. He also faced two criminal traffic citations for speeding and reckless driving this year.
