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Suspect robbed a man and raped a woman on South Beach sands, police say

A bike, tattoos and a woman’s gold chain around his neck identified the suspect police were looking for after last week’s armed robbery and rape on the sands of Miami Beach, police said.

The bike and the tattoos belonged to Pedro Tomayo, a 37-year-old homeless man. Tomayo has pleaded not guilty to charges of armed robbery and sexual battery.

He remains in Miami-Dade Corrections’ Turner Guilford Knight Corrections Center without bond. Tomayo had been out on $10,000 bond, posted July 31 after his arrest on petit theft and credit card charges.

As for the woman’s gold chain, police say, it belonged to one of the victims in what an arrest report describes as a violent beach robbery and sexual violation at the Third Street Lifeguard Stand.

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Video released by Miami Beach police claims to show Tomayo riding his bike around South Beach about a half hour before the 3 a.m. attack on Aug. 5. The report says Tomayo started to chat up the couple before pulling out a black knife.

He punched the man, and forced him to lie down in the sand at knife point. After stripping the man of jewelry, the report says, Tomayo told the man to head for the Atlantic Ocean.

This left him alone with the woman. The report said she felt him place “one of his hands into the bottom half of her bikini” and penetrate her with his fingers. According to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, “rape is the penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus. ... without the consent of the victim.”

He then took off her gold chain and pendant, which the report says were of unique design, and walked away.

COVID-19 worked against Tomayo. Curfew-cleared Miami Beach streets provided no cover against ubiquitous surveillance cameras the report says allowed Tomayo to be tracked for several blocks.

The next day, in the 700 block of Fifth Street, the report says officers spotted Tomayo on the bike seen on video with the identifying tattoos, same shoes and a black knife.

And, around his neck: that distinctive chain.

The report says Tomayo admitted being in the area and stealing from someone else, but not from the couple on the beach. Miami Beach police say they’re hoping other victims of Tomayo will come forward.

Tomayo did 23 months in Florida prison on car burglary and grand theft charges before his May 2019 release.

Pedro Tomayo in 2017 before doing almost two years for burglary and grand theft.
Pedro Tomayo in 2017 before doing almost two years for burglary and grand theft.