Homeless man arrested for raping woman who needed a place to stay

Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – John Joseph Daniels, 47, was arrested yesterday and charged with raping a woman who needed a place to stay.

The victim told a Gainesville Police Department officer that she was looking for a place to spend the night in the area near the 2900 block of NW 13th Street, and Daniels offered to let her stay in his tent; she said that once she was in his tent, he started touching her against her will. She said she told him explicitly that she did not want to engage in sexual activity with him, but he forcibly raped her and choked her. She said she pleaded with him to stop, but he told her to be quiet or he would kill her; she saw several knives in his tent, and although he did not specifically threaten her with a knife, she said she feared for her life.

The victim said she managed to escape the tent after Daniels stopped sexually battering her, and she went into a nearby fast food restaurant and pleaded with the staff to let her use the phone, but they reportedly refused. She said that Daniels entered the fast food restaurant while she was there, and she confronted him and said what he did to her was rape, but he responded by insulting her, so she went to another nearby business; he did not follow her.

The responding officer reported that Daniels has a violent criminal history, including sexual battery of a child and lewd/lascivious molestation; he has been arrested for sexual battery at least one other time, in 2007, but the victim later decided against pursuing charges.

The officer also noted that Daniels is a suspect in two sexual batteries in Gainesville in 2025, both of which occurred in the wooded areas behind two different area businesses.

Although the victim did not know Daniels’ identity, she reportedly identified him in a photo lineup, and an uninvolved witness reportedly said that the tent where the sexual battery occurred belongs to Daniels.

Daniels was arrested later on Thursday in the 2500 block of NW 13th Street.

Daniels has been charged with sexual battery with a physically helpless victim. His full criminal history is unavailable, but he has served six state prison sentences out of Charlotte, DeSoto, and Levy counties, with his most recent release in 2024. He is being held without bail pending a hearing on a motion from the State Attorney’s Office to hold him without bail until trial; if the judge denies the motion, bail will be set at that hearing.

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.