Gainesville man charged with attempted sexual battery

Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Taaz Levonn Redden, 48, has been charged with domestic battery and attempted sexual battery.

At about 1 a.m. on March 20, Redden reportedly called the victim, a woman he was dating at the time, and told her to come pick him up or he would make her life hell. The victim later told a Gainesville Police Department officer that Redden seemed intoxicated, and when she asked him if he’d been drinking, he started punching her.

The victim said Redden told her to drive to her residence, where she initially refused to get out of the car but he physically pulled her out, ripped off her wig, and punched her. She said he took her keys and cell phone and attempted to sexually batter her, but she screamed and said she did not want to have sex with him, and he eventually backed off, returned her phone and keys, and left her residence. The victim said she tried to leave several times while Redden was at her residence, but he physically restrained her; she said she could not call the police because he had her phone.

A warrant for Redden’s arrest was issued on March 21, and he was arrested on March 31.

Redden has been charged with attempted sexual battery, false imprisonment, hindering communication with law enforcement, and domestic battery. His full criminal history is not available, but he had one felony conviction and six misdemeanor convictions in Alachua County between 1997 and 2011 for drug and traffic offenses. According to a note on a court document, Redden was arrested in Hawaii for “some form of sexual assault” that was handled by the FBI because he was in the Army at the time; GPD also reported, based on a Marion County arrest report from 2012, that he was a registered sex offender at one time, but he is not currently in the Florida sex offender registry.

The State Attorney’s office filed a motion asking that he be held without bail until trial, but Judge James Colaw denied the motion and set bail at $375,000.

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.