Man Accused of Rape, Kidnapping Hours After Prison Release

A 39-year-old Brandon man found himself back behind bars just one day after his release from the Florida State Prison system.

According to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, Ryan Wesley Reese was released from state custody on Friday. A woman who knew him picked him up and allowed him to stay the night at her home.

The woman, deputies say, let Reese take her bedroom while she slept in the living room. Around 12:55 a.m. Saturday, Reese is accused of waking the woman up and forcibly pulling her into the bedroom where deputies say he proceeded to sexually assault her.

The woman managed to escape the home, but was forced back inside and assaulted again, an email to media from the sheriff’s office stated. The woman attempted another escape and was subsequently assaulted several more times, deputies noted.

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Later Saturday morning, Reese left the woman’s home, deputies say. At that time, the woman called a friend and was taken to a local hospital for treatment and deputies were notified.

That’s what sparked Saturday’s manhunt.

Reese was captured shortly after the sheriff’s office’s search began. K-9 Zeus gets the credit for nabbing him in a wooded area near Morgan Street. The four-legged officer was able to pull Reese out of the brush and he was subsequently arrested after receiving onsite medical treatment for injuries sustained “due to the K-9 apprehension,” the sheriff’s office explained.

Reese was booked into the Hillsborough County Jail on two counts of kidnapping, six counts of sexual battery and a single count of residential burglary. He was being held Monday without bond.

Reese was sentenced to state prison in 2009 on burglary and resisting an officer with violence charges. He has a state prison record that dates back to 1996.

Photo courtesy of the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office

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