A Fort Myers man said he is innocent after charges were never filed against him in 'heinous' rape

Paul S. Jacob says he is an innocent man. 

The Fort Myers man was arrested by Lee County sheriff's deputies a day after Christmas and was accused of a sexual assault on a teen 22 years ago.

The sheriff's office announced his arrest in a news release on Dec. 26, 2017. He spent a day in jail and was released on bond. 

But, the charges against him were never filed, according to the state attorney's office. Instead, the 46-year-old arrived at the Lee County courthouse for a scheduled hearing Monday to find his name was not on the judge's docket. 

A check at the clerk's office showed the charges against him were no longer there. On Valentine's Day, the state attorney's office decided not to file charges. Jacob was free to go.

Jacob found himself in this situation after a detective went to his home and asked to swab him. 

"She kind of hinted to what the charges were for, I said no way," Jacob said. "I'm cooperating because I know beyond a reasonable doubt that I never committed a heinous crime such as this."

The crime Jacob was accused of occurred in 1995 when deputies received a call from a victim who reported she was assaulted on a dirt road extension near Veronica Shoemaker Boulevard. She said the suspect offered to take her to get food but instead drove her to a wooded area where he raped her. 

The case notes, released by the state attorney's office Tuesday, indicate three men were involved. 

Afterward, the men drove the victim to the area where she lived and pushed her out of the car, naked, throwing clothes at her. 

She was 13.

She was taken to the hospital where a sexual assault kit was taken, but the kit was not sent to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement until 2016 — that's soon after Florida's Attorney General Pam Bondi set aside funds to have any backlogged sexual assault kits tested for DNA. 

The sheriff's office has previously said they have no backlogged kits. 

Notes show the case fell apart after the victim did not cooperate. She said she didn't remember Jacob being involved. 

"She knows that D was not the driver of the car that night and not the main one who raped her," the case notes states.

It continues: "She says she has had her closure and this arrest is not doing anything but causing her trouble."

In addition to not having the victim cooperate, there were issues with the DNA. According to the case notes, "there are more issues with the DNA than I initially thought."

That and taking into account that the victim did not want to prosecute led the state attorney's office to not file the charges against Jacob. 

"As a result of victim issues that arose after the arrest on the warrant, we concluded it was not feasible to move forward with the prosecution," said Samantha Syoen, with the state attorney's office. "This case was reviewed by Assistant State Attorney Natalie Savino as well as other attorneys in the Special Victims Unit. DNA comes in various levels and you have to put it into context with the other facts and evidence of the case. We did that to determine whether or not we should move forward."

The evidence was not there, Syoen said. 

And that's why Jacob said he was wrongfully arrested. 

"I knew I didn’t do it and I believe in the most higher power which is God," Jacob said. "And I'm a firm believer of that and I knew he wouldn't put me in a situation like this and just leave me to be going to prison on something I didn’t commit."

Jacob is a self-employed lawn service worker. He said he is also active in the community and takes young people to work with him to keep them out of trouble. 

"Twenty-two years they come and they just rip my life apart without properly investigating the circumstances of the situation to see if I'm innocent or not," Jacob said. "They do that. They rush judgment. They slandered my name, interfered with the positive work I was doing in the community when the murder rate is out of control."

Jacob said he is worried that in a rush to solve these decades-old rape cases authorities are rushing the investigative work. 

"I'm not sure if I question the DNA or I could question the process or the professionalism of the people that’s handling it but don’t make me the scapegoat," Jacob said. "Don't use me."

Jacob was characterized as a violent offender in the announcement about his arrest. 

But that's not the case, he said. 

The Lee County Sheriff's Office declined an interview request about this case. The 1995 case remains open and a spokeswoman declined to answer questions about whether detectives were still investigating. 

Jacob went to the Lee County branch of the NAACP for help. The president, James Muwakkil, said he is not surprised by the mistake. 

"The consequences could be economically damaging," Muwakkil said. "It could cause him to lose employment; it could cause him to lose certain business opportunities."

It could also cause people to view him as a sexual predator, Muwakkil said. 

"It's going to cost him a lot of money to get the charge off his record," Muwakkil said. "It is going to be both embarrassing, humiliating and agonizing for not just him, but his wife, his children, his family."

Jacob, Muwakkil said, went to the NAACP to seek assistance in filing a civil rights complaint for a false arrest and false imprisonment. 

Jacob said he is not sure what he will do. 

"I'm just somebody that is trying to help," Jacob said. "The stain is there the damage has been done maybe we can do a little recovery but the full strength of recovery only God knows."