Gainesville man arrested for felony battery, attempted sexual battery, and soliciting prostitution

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Alexander Igor Bellerive, 22, was arrested yesterday morning and charged with attempted sexual battery, felony battery, soliciting prostitution, and drug possession after allegedly trying to pay a homeless woman for oral sex and then punching her.

A Gainesville Police Department officer was flagged down by a woman walking down the road near the Walmart at Butler Plaza; the woman reportedly had blood all over her face and running down her neck. The officer called an ambulance and later reported that the woman had a broken nose and had lost a tooth.

The woman told the officer that she and her boyfriend, who are homeless, were approached by Bellerive, who said he used to be homeless and wanted to help them, so he gave her boyfriend $20 to get some food and cigarettes.

The woman said that after her boyfriend went into Walmart, Bellerive asked her if she wanted to make some money and offered to pay her for oral sex. She said he was very persistent and offered her $400, but she continually refused. She said he pulled his pants down while she was sitting on a bench and put his penis in her face, so she got up and told him to leave her alone. She said he then punched her in the face.

The woman described the man, and officers found Bellerive, who matched the description, leaving Walmart. The woman also said the man had a faint Ukrainian or eastern European accent, and Bellerive was born in Ukraine.

When officers asked Bellerive if he knew why they had contacted him, he reportedly said his car had been lost or stolen downtown the previous night and that he had walked all the way to Butler Plaza after calling the police. Post Miranda, he reportedly said he had seen the woman and her boyfriend and felt bad for them because they were homeless and he used to be homeless. He said he gave them $20 and hoped they would be good people and use the money for food. He reportedly said that the woman had thrown an eyeliner pencil at him and attacked him for no reason, then punched him several times, so he ran into the grocery door at Walmart, where she continued to chase him; he said he lost her inside the store, then came out the pharmacy door, where the officers made contact with him.

The officer reported that Bellerive had blood on his hands and in his cuticles. A search incident to arrest reportedly produced about 1.3 grams of cocaine; Bellerive reportedly said that while he was downtown, he gave a man $20, and the man just gave him three bags of cocaine. He reportedly explained that it wasn’t good cocaine because he did one “bump,” and so did the guy who gave it to him.

Another officer made contact with the victim’s boyfriend, who corroborated the woman’s story up to the point where he went to Walmart. He reportedly said that he thought Bellerive seemed odd, but he took the money and left to buy food because Bellerive was a clean-cut kid who was very articulate. He said that when he returned with donuts and sodas, the victim was gone, and he saw the ambulance down the road. The boyfriend’s hands reportedly showed no signs that he had hit anyone.

The officer noted that Bellerive is a suspect in a recent, unrelated sexual battery report. A sworn complaint was also filed last June, in which a woman accused him of accosting her at a gas station, trying to get her to come with him to “have a good time” with cocaine and marijuana, and forcibly kissing her before she was able to lock herself in her car. The charges were later dropped.

Bail information is unavailable on weekends.

Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.