ROCKLEDGE, Fla. — A 58-year-old caregiver at a Florida home for people with disabilities impregnated a woman with the "mental capacity of that of a small child," a police report says.

  • Rockledge man charged in assault of mentally disabled woman
  • Deputies: Woman is resident of group home, man was caregiver there
  • Investigators say woman has "mental capacity of that of a small child"

Willie Fred Shorter was arrested Wednesday afternoon and charged with lewd and lascivious battery on an elderly or disabled person.

Rockledge Police investigators say in an affidavit that Shorter is the father of the woman's son.

They describe the woman in the group home as someone who has the "mental capacity of that of a small child" and therefore unable to consent to sexual intercourse.

Their investigation began in January 2015, when the woman was pregnant. She gave investigators the names of three potential fathers, but two were quickly eliminated, the affidavit says. The third person was Shorter, who denied the allegations, and police said there wasn't enough evidence at the time to get a DNA sample from him.

Then, in April 2018, the woman reported that she'd been inappropriately touched by Shorter. He denied that allegation as well, but this time, investigators said Shorter voluntarily provided a DNA sample, the affidavit says.

On Wednesday, investigators said they received the results of the DNA testing from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement crime lab, which indicated there was a 99.99 percent probability that Shorter was the father of the woman's son. They said they also had forensic DNA evidence that points to Shorter as the father.

Shorter was booked into the Brevard County jail on $15,000 bond.

Just last month, a nurse in Phoenix who had been taking care of an incapacitated woman at a long-term care facility was charged in her rape after she gave birth to a boy, stunning caregivers who had no idea she had been pregnant. The 29-year-old woman has been in care since age 3, cannot speak, and has limited mobility in her limbs, the Associated Press reported. That case horrified officials and the public, prompted reviews by state agencies, and led to the resignation of facility's CEO.