Published on
ROCKLEDGE, Fla. — A 16- or 17-year-old autistic girl used a hammer to defend herself Tuesday when a 29-year-old man allegedly broke into her family’s home while her guardians were at work, according to a Rockledge Police Department arrest affidavit.
Brandon S. McCuen, 29, of Rockledge, was arrested the same afternoon and charged with three counts of unlawful sexual activity with a minor (16 or 17 years old) and one count of burglary of a dwelling.
According to the affidavit, Rockledge dispatch received a 911 call shortly after 12:21 p.m. on Feb. 24 from a frightened female voice reporting a break-in. The caller described the intruder as a white male with brown hair wearing a gray hoodie and said she had struck him in the head with a hammer.
When officers arrived, they found the juvenile victim standing on the front lawn holding a hammer. She told investigators she had been home alone when McCuen — whom she knew only as “Scott” from the neighborhood — suddenly appeared inside the residence without permission. She said he ordered her to the ground, got on top of her in a push-up position, and that she fought back, managed to get on top of him, grabbed a hammer lying near a pillow, and struck him once in the back of the head.
The man then fled through the garage. Blood consistent with the strike was later found on a pink Hello Kitty blanket, a purple pillow, the bedroom floor, and a paper towel in the garage, the report states.
Investigators traced McCuen to his nearby Croton Road address. When contacted, he was wearing a green sweater with what appeared to be blood on it. In a recorded, post-Miranda interview, McCuen admitted he had met the girl days earlier at a Rebel gas station, communicated with her via Snapchat and texting, and had been inside the home the previous day (Feb. 23), where he said they had consensual sexual intercourse multiple times.
McCuen told police he returned the morning of Feb. 24, lay in bed with her watching TV on her computer, and that she was massaging his back when she suddenly struck him with the hammer. He said he then gathered his belongings and left.
The affidavit notes the victim has autism and lives under strict household rules set by her guardians, who repeatedly instructed her not to allow anyone inside when they are not home. During a forensic interview at the Children’s Advocacy Center of Brevard, the girl reportedly said she felt intimidated by McCuen and “did not know how to tell him ‘no.’”
A sexual assault kit was completed at the advocacy center, and DNA evidence was collected.
McCuen was booked into the Brevard County Jail on the felony charges. The case remains under investigation by the Rockledge Police Department.
No further information about the juvenile victim was released.
