Convicted felon arrested on sexual battery charges

A 37-year-old Charlotte County man was arrested Saturday afternoon on sexual battery and false imprisonment charges following a violent assault in Punta Gorda.

Nanji A. Ware is being held at the Charlotte County Jail on a bond of over $1 million dollars.

The suspect is no stranger to law enforcement and has spent most of his adult life behind bars.

Ware has served nearly 10 years in the state prison system for prior convictions out of Charlotte County for second degree murder during the commission of a felony and false imprisonment.

According to a Punta Gorda Police Department report emergency service personnel were dispatched to the 500 block of Burland St. in response to an injured female call.

The woman told investigators she had been sexually assaulted and held against her will at approximately 3 AM. The alleged incident occurred at a residence in the 500 block of Ida St. several blocks from where she called for help.

Detectives say Ware solicited sex from the victim but she refused. The suspect became angry and allegedly threw her to the ground and assaulted her.

Ware then told the victim not to leave the residence. Just after 2 PM the suspect left the home and the victim escaped and went for help.

A search warrant was obtained and the home on Ida St. was searched. Telephone contact was made with the suspect and he was later located at a Punta Gorda intersection not far from the scene of the alleged crime.

Ware was transported to the Punta Gorda Police Department where he was arrested.

The suspect was released from a state prison facility in April 2011 after serving 18 months on a probation violation. Ware's Florida Department of Corrections incarceration report lists his home residence as the Ida St. location where the alleged crime occurred.