Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Judge Locks Up Florida Teen for Raping 91-Year-Old Woman

Episode Date: February 10, 2025

Jesse Stone, 15, admitted to breaking into the home of a 91-year-old woman who befriended him in his neighborhood in Reddick, Florida and sexually assaulting her in June 2024. Stone was 14 at the time and pleaded guilty to two felony charges and was sentenced as his grandmother asked the judge for leniency for her grandson. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy goes through the sentencing in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering biggest stories in crime.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW:If you or a loved one have suffered physical or mental health issues due to video games, visit https://vgclaims.com/crimefix to answer less than 10 questions and check your eligibility to file a claim!Host:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5CRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Daniel CamachoGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this law and crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. He really, even now, he worries about her. You know, he doesn't generally care about her. And this was, he doesn't understand why he did it. A grandmother pleads for leniency for her teenage grandson after he admits to sexually assaulting a 91-year-old woman. I take you to the sentencing of Jesse Stone in Florida as he learns his punishment. Mr. Stone, this is unfortunate for you, for the victim, for both of your families. Welcome to Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy. We cover a lot of terrible, terrible cases for you here,

and this one is really quite shocking and disturbing. And one of the reasons why it is so disturbing, the defendant, Jesse Stone, was just 14 years old at the time, and he admitted to sexually assaulting a 91-year-old woman. Jesse Stone was a kid when he attacked this woman. He still is a kid. He turned 15 in jail in December. But that doesn't matter. What he admitted to doing to this woman who befriended him in his neighborhood in Reddick, Florida, is absolutely terrifying and makes you wonder how anyone could do such a thing, let alone a 14-year-old boy. Now, before we get into Jesse Stone's sentencing, I want to go over the case and how it got to this point. Deputies were called to the victim's home one night last June. Okay, I'm up here on a rhetoric. I'm at a house and a 91-year-old lady calls in saying she was just raped. We get on scene. She's beat up really bad. The 91-year-old woman said she was sleeping

in her bedroom when someone walked toward her. Oh, so she saw a shadow approaching her and all of a sudden he just started like wailing on her. She's significantly injured in her face and got a big gash on her arm. She's 91 years old. So she says that the guy sounded Hispanic and he was telling her to be still and penetrated her with his fingers. And she said that he felt like he was not erect, but maybe trying to be. She said it lasted about 15, huh? That's her? Yeah.

She says he never took off his pants. She said he never took off his pants and it lasted about 15, 20 minutes. And he left about five to 10 minutes prior to us going 97. Marion County Sheriff's deputies launched a massive search for the attacker. That lady's moved out of the way, right? With the phone? Yeah. Hey, uh, have the neighbor with the phone step out of our way. This is a law and crime legal alert. Recent allegations against the multi-billion dollar video game industry claim video games are engineered for addiction. The claims include making sense of the magical hold that video games seem to have over people where they can't put the controller down.

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answer less than 10 questions and check your eligibility to file a claim. The search and DNA evidence leads detectives to 14-year-old Jesse Stone, who goes by the nickname Randy John. Detectives had run into him in the neighborhood. Man, you doing all right? You need anything? Jesse, I'm Ryan, and we're going to come in here and talk to you just a little bit, okay? We're waiting for your mom. I'm going to get over here. Just so we can all be here and talk and figure out what's going on, all right? You sure you don't want a lot or anything?

Okay. If you need something, just cut this door a little knock, all right? The detectives questioned Stone with his grandmother present about when he last saw the victim and whether he had ever been in certain areas of her home. I've helped with the laundry machine, but not to do laundry. Not like you've never done the laundry for her or bed sheets or anything like that? No. I've helped with the laundry machine, but not to do laundry. Not like you've never done the laundry with a porter or bed sheets or anything like that? No. You've never like taken a nap or slept in any of your bedrooms or anything like that? No. Okay.

Do you remember if you've ever been in any of them by doing it? No. No. I've never been in any room other than the living room kitchen the bathroom Well, we're any done I think you probably know that I wouldn't ask that question unless I had a reason to Okay So I'm just gonna be honest with you because I mean I feel like you've been mostly honest with me And I know you want to honest with me. It's okay if I call you mom. Yeah, I mean, I feel like you've been mostly honest with me. And I know your mom's been honest with me.

Is it okay if I call you his mom? Yeah. Okay. I don't mean to. It's okay. Yeah. But when I came over to you on, I think that was Sunday, and I was asking you about your clothes and the video and stuff,

and I explained that I wanted to get your DNA, because I knew that you had been over there before, because you mentioned, like you told us today, that you had talked with her. So I knew that at the very least, there would be evidence of you being in the porch. Yeah. Right? So I went and met with your mom, and you guys signed a consent form, and we got your DNA. Uh-huh. Okay. So we sent your DNA and the sex gate up to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement who does the testing and stuff like that. Okay. Is there any reason at all that your DNA would be on her clothes? Yeah, when I said goodbye to her, we had like a side hug.

Okay. Well, let me be a little bit more specific. Your DNA was on her underwear. What? And so I want you to really use this time here to be honest with me about what happened that night because I think that we know what happened and I think that your mom knows what happened because she also wrote down a list of times

that you went in and out of the house that night to include the time that the call came in. And I think you probably know that you wouldn't be in here unless we had a good reason to put you in. I don't see... It's not about seeing, Randy John. It's truth. Yeah, I... Truth.

It's impossible for my dean or your young her to work. That's what we like to think, too, brother, but that stuff doesn't lie. That stuff doesn't get made up. Sometimes the truth can be hard. You seem like a really good guy, man. You seem like you've got a good head on your shoulders. You make connections with people that need help.

You go out there and you help other people. And there's people out there sometimes that make mistakes. That doesn't make you a bad person for making a mistake. Then the detectives really turned up the heat on Jesse Stone, showing him photos of the victim's injuries. We just need to understand, like, who is Randy John, man? Oh, my God. I don't know. And we don't think that that was the intention.

We need to understand what happened. we don't think that was the intention we don't know what happens already you know when i walked here for your words anything well Oh my god! Holy cow! I wanna know why this happened.

Randy, help us understand now. ready ready ready look at me for a second you did this exact same thing when i asked you about you walking down the road or walking on the road at 11 o'clock and you did the whole i don't know i don't remember and i was like. And you finally admitted to it. And I think this is the exact same thing. I know what happened. And it's only going to help you for you to be honest with me about what happened. Because, like I said, we know what happened because we have your DNA. Jesse Stone's grandmother is there with him, and she tells him he has to be honest. She deserves the truth to be told and you know it.

Personally, I can't believe that this is a horrible thing that you're trying to do. That's a horrible thing. I don't... I don't even have the ability to do that. Well, it's hard for me to believe, too. It's really hard for me to believe, too, that you would do a thing like this. I didn't. But how many times have you been caught in lies? I know, but...

And this is the whole reason why you're on restriction. It's because you're not telling the truth about things. This woman deserves to have the truth. She deserves it, and you know that. What? Don't say why's, Ready John, because why doesn't exist here? I wasn't at her house. Ready John, it's across the street wasn't at her house. Ready, John.

It's across the street. Look at her. Look at her. That's... Look at her face. That's Miss... That's... I didn't...

I don't even think like that. I did... I don't even think like that. I've never seen you hurt anybody, but... I don't want to hurt anybody. What the hell were you doing outside at that time of night? It doesn't make any sense, do you understand? I don't want to hurt anybody. Ready John, it doesn't make any sense. There's a million different things you could do.

Being outside where you don't belong, and you know you don't belong out there. I'm sorry, but I'm an outdoorsy person. You're not an outdoorsy person. You're sitting in front of the TV kind of guy. I don't have TV outside. Well, I don't know. I hope and pray you did not do this to this woman. I did.

I hope and pray. I hope and pray you did not do this to this woman. I did. I hope and pray. I hope and pray you did not do this. Because this is horrific. This is a human being. And she deserves justice. She does. If this would have happened to your sister, what would you do? Work whoever. If you know anything about this, Randy John, for her at least, if you care about her, tell the truth. Tell the truth. I know. We've been down that road before where you've been lying about something. I know this.

Randy, Randy John, you've been lying about something. You swear on this. Lanny, Lanny John, you've lied about stuff before. Eventually, Jesse Stone confessed to sexually and physically assaulting the victim after watching pornography on her iPad in her home. Jesse Stone would tell the detectives that he started watching pornography when he was just 10 years old. Stone was charged with sexual assault and burglary and later pleaded guilty to those charges. His grandmother, who begged him to tell the detectives the truth, asked the judge for mercy. He was struggling, yes, in the last few months, but he is a caring person. He loves people. He takes care of people. He's kind. He's not violent. He actually was attacked one time by five people and one of

them being a girl. And when she hit him in the back, he turned around and he was going to punch but he saw it was a girl. He pulled the fist back and put it down and he got out of that situation. But he's not violent. He's not an aggressive person. And he genuinely cares about people. And he, you know, the one thing I know talking to him in the last few months is the unbelievable amount of remorse that he feels for what he's done. I hear it in his voice.

It's in the conversations. It's like, he feels really bad. He's asked me over and over, how is Miss Edith? How's she doing? Is she okay? He really, even now, he worries about her. You know, he doesn't generally care about her.

And this was he doesn't understand why he did it. But he accepts responsibility. He does accept responsibility. When he was living at your house, was he helpful around the house? Absolutely. Stone's grandmother went into more detail about what she noticed about her grandson in the months leading up to the attack. Well, the one thing that really kind of stood out for me that he was struggling was because he hadn't used to lie and he didn't use to take things and didn't do different things. His behavior was excellent before. And then all of a sudden he was sitting at the dining room table

and I said to him, I said, what is going on? Why are you behaving like this? I don't get it. And he says, why does my mother hate me so much? That's what came out. So then I realized he's in pain. That's what I realized at that point in time. That's when I started trying to get help from him because that's the seed of what's going on.

And then after that event, losing his sister really tipped him upside down I mean he just was and he even told me I said why why do you keep trying to get video streams why do you keep getting video streams what's going on with this what's going on with this and he said grandma when I'm watching the videos I don't I don't think about my sister I it helps give me a break from my thinking about my sister I It helps give me a break from thinking about my sister. I'm missing my sister. So that's what he was doing. He was kind of using the videos. And there was a disturbing revelation about the videos and the pornography Jesse Stone

told detectives he started watching when he was only 10 years old. What type of videos are you talking about? He was, he liked all kinds of videos. It's not just pornography. The pornography happened in the very end, well, like that. But I'll admit, he got introduced to pornography actually from his father. And that happened when he was in the fourth grade. And he got in trouble for being on a website at school that was pornographic. It was something that, I think what it was my son spelled out the words to him is what

my grandson told me and then he went to school and he typed those letters in and that's what it was. And it wasn't, I think he told me it was kind of the school told me it was kind of like boy on boy type of um um pornography but that's like his first thing but he was also watching videos where you know like dirt bikes and funny things and that's pretty much I mean a lot of us do it I do it now I find myself scrolling through my phone just because I'm bored and I don't have anything better to do with my time. And so it's an escape. Stone's grandmother explained that he had a difficult childhood, which led to her raising him and his younger sister.

And he kind of went upside down from there. He was really struggling. His sister was very younger. His sister's younger. He was like a caretaker for her. He was like taking, when I first got them, I was surprised that he was more like a parent to his little sister than a brother. It was very strange.

He was dressing her. He was making sure she ate. He was taking care of her. As he was growing up, before they were kind of separated like that, how much contact did he have with his sister? Say again? How often would he have contact with his sister? The whole thing again because I'm hard of hearing.

How often did he have contact with his sister? After the separation? Before. Oh, 100%. Thank you, sir. They lived with me, so, I mean, they were together with me, and I was taking care of her. She's legally blind, and she has a lot of physical ailments that are, I guess, from the mom doing drugs or something. So, you know, but he was a very tight bond with them, too, very, very tight.

Jesse Stone's grandmother and his lawyer realize that he is going to prison. There's really no way around it. The crime was too heinous for him to be placed on probation. Once Jesse is released from whatever period of incarceration the court deems appropriate, will you be there for him? Absolutely. If I'm alive still. Will you help support him kind of getting back on his feet into the community?

Absolutely. Okay. Is there anything else you'd like Judge Herndon to know about Jesse? Just that he isn't the person that did this act in a natural way. He's not this guy. I think personally he panicked or something. I can't explain what happened. But he's a person that you love, you care, you liked having him around. He was a good person, is a good person. And I mean, I don't, I care about Miss Edith too, I really do. And I don't know what's really fair here. I was myself recently attacked, and for me personally, the way I felt better is to have the person get help.

Because I think people who are in that situation, they need help. And prior to him, this incident happened, I was already reaching out for help. I called the police a couple different times, trying to get help for him. I called the school council and trying to get help for him, but nobody seems to, you know, that end of things, they failed. And, and, you know, I really believe had he gotten the help that he needed, then he would not be here right now. I mean, I really believe that. But the prosecution described Jesse Stone as a teen who acted very deliberately. It showed a series of deliberate and violent choices by the defendant that ended up endangering the health, the safety, and really the life of Ms. Stone in this case,

and ultimately caused significant physical harm to her. Ms. Stone considered the defendant to be a friend. He was one of the kids in the neighborhood that she showed kindness to even the day prior to this incident, sitting and talking with the defendant. And with this friendship, the defendant gained knowledge about Ms. Brougham's life, including the fact that she lived alone. He had awareness of when she was alone versus when family or friends were visiting based on vehicles in the neighborhood. He knew the layout of her home and he was close enough. He helped teach her how to use her iPad and knew that she had that device in her home that he would be able to access.

Ultimately, through the investigation, when the defendant was identified as the perpetrator and interviewed by law enforcement, he initially denied entering her home, attacking her. And then ultimately, when confronted with photos of her injuries and the DNA evidence, little by little started making admissions to law enforcement. Remember, the victim's iPad is important in this case, and the prosecutor is going to elaborate on why. She went on to explain the iPad and Jesse Stone's frustrations with his home life. The defendant's grandmother tried to provide structure and responsibility for the defendant in that home. And that he, at one point in his interview to law enforcement, stated he wanted to get out of the house where he

was heavily watched by cameras to go to a place where he wasn't under such control. And so that was one of his choices here and leaving his home and entering the victim's home. Throughout his interview, he begins to admit to entering his home, leaving, going back home, coming back, going back home, back and forth multiple times. All of this happening while Ms. 91 years old is sleeping in her bed and is unaware. She did not get permission or consent for the defendant to enter her home, never mind in the middle of the night. The defendant admitted to using that device, the iPad, to watch pornography, which law enforcement later determined include pornography with elderly adults.

And what is clear from the testimony presented to the court is that these circumstances the defendant being in this home escaping that control watching the pornography caused him to be sexually aroused and shows the court his sexual intent for why he entered the home and why he ended up attacking during his description of the physical attack, it shows his recklessness and the extreme danger that he was putting her in through his choices. This is one of the clips played to the court that he covered her face with a pillow so she couldn't see him, but he held it there so she couldn't pull it away. This is a very dangerous decision by the defendant that could

have led to her being suffocated. The prosecution continued describing just how violent this attack was. She was strong enough to fight back. The defendant, this was described to the court through both the testimony provided by the victim, but also through the defendant's admissions, that he then had to take a number of actions to restrain her so he could regain control over the situation. This included covering her eyes and mouth with his hands so she couldn't see him, many attempts to try to hold her down. At one point in one of the clips we play for the court, the defendant states that he was looking for something to wrap her arms up with to physically restrain her, and that

he repositioned her, flipping her on her stomach, where he could be on top of her in order to have complete control and power over her physically in that moment. And it was during that positioning that he committed the sexual battery of the digital penetration of the victim. And what is described by the defendant's own admission shows this was not him simply panicking, but that there were a number of very intentional decisions he made that inflicted harm on Megan, just to sleep in her bed, once he entered her bedroom while he was inside the home after watching the pornography.

The defendant then describes, after the sexual battery, even additional steps that were intentionally made to prevent him from being identified or to cover up his crime that he had committed, including covering her face again with a pillow so that she couldn't see him when he left the room. And then seeing he was he had blood on his hands washing that off. The prosecution asked the judge to sentence Jesse Stone to no less than 30 years in prison, while Stone's attorney made one final plea on his behalf, arguing that Stone had no prior criminal record. His brain was nowhere near fully developed when this incident happened and is still probably 10 years off from that being the case. He had a relatively difficult childhood. He had no father figure in his life whatsoever. And certainly none of this is an excuse or a justification by any means for what happened. He is remorseful about what happened.

You've heard testimony about that. He pled guilty. But he lost contact with his sister, I believe shortly before this happened. He had very minimal contact with his mother, and he was essentially raised by his paternal grandmother. Despite all that, he's done fairly well in school. He got ahead of grade, made pretty good grades, A's and B's, I believe it was. We believe that that indicates that he would be amenable to supervision as well as specialized sex offender treatment. As the state points out, he does suffer from depression and ADHD. Obviously, there are plenty of people that have depression and ADHD that never get involved in

anything like this, but that combined with his childhood certainly doesn't help. As a 14-year-old boy with, again, no father figure in his life, he did appear to be somewhat get addicted to pornography and things of that nature on the internet. I'm sure that that didn't help the situation. In the end, the judge decided that Jesse Stone should go to prison. All right, Mr. Stone, this is unfortunate for you, for the victim, for both of your families. I'm going to start with count two. It's a burglar of a dwelling

with a battery, which is punishable by up to life in prison. You're adjudicated guilty and sentenced to 25 years in the Department of Corrections. That's going to be followed by 30 years of sex offender probation. You're going to have to follow the sex offender probation conditions set forth in 948.30, which includes sex offender treatment, a variety of other things, including polygraphs, no use of the internet without a risk assessment, no contact with children under the age of 18. I don't know that that's going to be applicable in this case, but I assume all those are still going to apply. You cannot have any contact with the victim in this case, which means that no phone contact, third party contact, no contact in any manner whatsoever.

Jesse Stone was sentenced to 25 years in prison. He'll be 39 when he's released. His grandmother watched as the bailiff helped him in the courtroom before he was led away to start that prison sentence. The prosecutor said the victim in this case has had a difficult time processing what happened to her, as anyone could understand given the violence of the attack and how she befriended Jesse Stone. And that's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Ann Jeanette Levy. Thanks so much for being with me. I'll see you back here next time.