Rape allegations against County Council candidate Willie J. Kimmons quietly dismissed - perm. protection hearing for alleged victim not until Nov. 9 - day after election

By HENRY FREDERICK
Headline Surfer

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla -- Brutal rape allegations against County Council candidate Willie J. Kimmons were quietly dismissed in June by the State Attorney's Office without ever reaching a circuit judge. And yet a temporary order of protection was granted to the alleged victim by a judge.

However, her request for a permanent order of protection won't be heard until Nov. 9, the day after the general elections.

Kimmons, accompanied by private counsel, refused to speak to Daytona Beach police investigators -- his rights under the law. And he's certainly not talking now -- at least not to this media outlet, which is outlining the rape allegations while recognizing the presumption of innocence is afforded Kimmons unless or until tried and convicted in a court of law.

Nothing about the alleged rape was released to the media by Daytona Beach police who investigated it. Nor was anything said by the State Attorney's Office until Headline Surfer inquired about it this month. Headline Surfer received more than a hundred pages worth of documents on the case.

Spencer Hathaway, a spokesman for State Attorney RJ Larizza, said the Daytona Beach News-Journal inquired about the rape allegation in July, but has written nothing on it to date, even though Volusia County's official daily newspaper of record received the same documents as Headline Surfer more than two months in advance. 

Kimmons, a Democrat, is running in the non-partisan race for the district 2 seat on the Volusia County Council against Republican and Daytona Beach Shores City Commissioner Billie Egger Wheeler. The district 2 seat representing greater Daytona Beach, is held by Joshua J. Wagner, who is barred by term limits from seeking a third four-year term on the dais.

Neither Kimmons nor his attorney, J. Peyton Quarles, have returned messages for comment on the rape allegations or the timing of the upcoming court hearing requested by the alleged victim for a permanent order of protection.

 

 

 

Timeline:

Feb. 19: 7 p.m. - Alleged rape victim claims she receives a call from Willie J. Kimmons on her cell phone that he has returned from St. Augustine. He took her to his campaign headquarters, but then drove her to another nearby location and raped her on a bed, she claimed.
Feb. 26: Alleged rape victim goes to Halifax Health Medical Center's ER, saying she feels weak, but doesn't say she was raped.
April 20: She told Daytona Beach cops she delayed reporting the incident because she felt weak and shocked. And she claimed she was afraid of her alleged attacker, who she claimed told her Mayor Derrick Henry was his godson.