Palm Beach police arrested a Georgia man on suspicion of sexual assault while employed on a luxury yacht moored in West Palm Beach, and officers told a judge that the man had been arrested in the U.S. and overseas. He said he had a history of similar incidents at popular luxury destinations. .
On Nov. 25, officers took into custody James “Jack” Robert Magruder, 33, with a permanent address in Millen, Georgia, whose address is listed on the arrest report as Safe Harbor Livovich Marina. did. The suspect has pleaded not guilty and is being held in Palm. He is being held without bond in the Beach County Jail, according to court records.
The Palm Beach County State’s Attorney’s Office cited in part Magruder’s ability to travel internationally for work and a pattern of reckless behavior toward women from New Zealand to Rhode Island that could pose a danger to the community. , asked Circuit Judge James Nutt to remand Mr. Magruder into custody. Jail until trial.
Nutt approved the request at a Dec. 2 hearing, a decision that could keep Magruder in custody for several months. Mr. Magruder’s attorney, Robert Malave, asked Mr. Nutt to reconsider his decision, records show. As of Thursday, Dec. 19, Malabu had not responded to a request for comment.
Woman tells police they had a sexual relationship after three dates and kisses
The woman who reported being raped first matched with Magruder on a dating app on Nov. 10, according to Magruder’s Palm Beach arrest report. After some discussion, the two agreed to a date at Lake’s Benny’s on the Beach restaurant the next day. Mr Worth Beach stated in the report:
The woman and Magruder went on another date Nov. 15, meeting at Kapaw Noodle Bar on Clematis Street in West Palm Beach, then riding Magruder’s motorcycle and kissing at the end of the night, the woman said. told the police.
During their third date on Nov. 18, the woman and Magruder went to Ocean Reef Park in Riviera Beach and had dinner at Elisabetta’s Restaurant in West Palm Beach, where Magruder went to the Ambassador Palm Beach Hotel on South Ocean Boulevard. I booked a hotel room at & Residences. the police said.
When Magruder and the woman arrived at the room, the two began to get intimate, the woman told police. According to the arrest report, when the woman asked Magruder to get a condom, she showed police text messages in which the two discussed using protective equipment, but the man refused and said, “The relationship was broken.” He reportedly told her, “I will be killed.”
At one point, the woman said, Magruder grabbed her by the throat and began choking her, adding that he let go when she told him to stop.
Magruder then asked the woman to turn to her side so they could hug each other, according to the arrest report. The woman told police that at that moment, Magruder began assaulting her and continued to assault her even though she told him to stop. She then took a shower, and Magruder accused her of having a “mental breakdown,” the report said.
When she woke up the next morning, Magruder allegedly assaulted her again.
The woman reported the incident to Butterfly House, and the call with the defendant was recorded.
That day, the woman contacted Wellington Regional Medical Center’s Butterfly House, a certified rape crisis center. There, the woman met with a sexual assault nurse examiner and an advocate from the Palm Beach County Victim Services Department, according to the report.
Two days later, the woman called Magruder, records show, and the call was recorded by phone and audio by investigators. During the call, the woman confronted Magruder and told him she didn’t feel comfortable not using protective equipment, according to the arrest report.
Magruder apologized to the woman and told her he could sense her discomfort, according to the report. According to the report, the woman continued to confront Magruder, telling him, “I’ve never had a man before who wouldn’t stop when I told him to.”
Police alert courts to past cases involving women in the U.S. and abroad
Police said in an earlier conversation that Magruder said he intended to leave soon as the yacht he was on was preparing to head to St. Kitts in the West Indies, 1,300 miles southeast of Miami. He pointed out that he told the woman.
Police checked Magruder’s criminal history and discovered he had been arrested in Statesboro, Georgia. Newport, Rhode Island. Los Angeles, California. and Aspen, Colorado. The arrests took place between 2017 and 2019, according to court records.
He pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of posting private images for harassment and violating an order of protection, according to a 2019 report in the Aspen Daily News. Mr Magruder received a three-year suspended sentence to be served in New Zealand, as well as a concurrent 60-day prison sentence with 24 days to be served.
Records about the outcome of cases in Georgia, Rhode Island and California were not immediately available.
Police also found YouTube videos detailing other women’s allegations that Magruder abused and raped them, according to the arrest report.
The report included a screenshot of a 2022 LinkedIn post in which a member of the yachting community alerted others to the allegations against Mr. Magruder. Anyone with information about Magruder is asked to call the Palm Beach Police Department at 561-838-5454.
Anyone who believes they are a victim of sexual assault should call Palm Beach County Victim Services’ 24-hour helpline at 561-833-7273.
Christina Webb is a reporter for the Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. Contact kwebb@pbdailynews.com. To support our journalism, please subscribe today.
