A West Palm Beach man is in jail on charges of resisting an officer with violence and battery on a police officer and is under investigation in connection with an alleged kidnapping and sexual assault, according to Port St. Lucie police.
Police said officers arrested 60-year-old Michael Jablonski on Sunday morning after responding to a Publix for reports from a 35-year-old woman who claimed she had been kidnapped in Davie by a family friend.
Officers used Taser to detain suspect
According to police, Jablonski initially refused to follow officers’ commands and got into the driver’s seat of his van as they approached.
They said he grabbed an officer’s arm during the struggle and had to be forcibly removed from the vehicle. A second officer deployed a Taser before Jablonski was taken into custody.
The woman told police that Jablonski took her against her will from an undisclosed location in Davie and sexually assaulted her.
Victim sought help at Publix
Police said that while traveling to an undisclosed destination, Jablonski stopped at a Publix. The woman asked a store employee for help, and the employee hid her in an office and called 911.
Officers found the white van the two had been traveling in parked outside. It was towed as part of the investigation.
Davie police have taken over the kidnapping investigation, while Port St. Lucie police continue to investigate the sexual assault claim, which the victim said occurred in a business parking lot near the Gatlin Boulevard Interstate 95 exit.
Jablonski is being held at the St. Lucie County Jail on a $50,000 bond.
Police said further charges are pending completion of the investigations.
