The arrest report is difficult to read, describing how Richard Botek, 53, attacked his roommate multiple times over the course of a weekend and raped her.
“I normally don't room with strangers but I did and it just turned into a bad Lifetime movie type of thing,” Lace said. ABC Action News does not identify the victims of sex crimes. But, she wanted us to use her voice to raise awareness about how violence against women.
“It's definitely just a wake up call and it just makes me want to be more private,” Lace said. “Emotionally, trying to stay to myself now and trying to tell the other girls about the red flags.”
Lace said Botek started drinking heavily, making passes at her, and began trying to control where she went and when.
“Every time I turned around he was there. He became like touching and I have boundaries and I tried to be firm but he kept violating them.”
Botek served more than 16 years in prison for crimes that include attempted murder, assault, burglary, and battery on a person 65 years or older.
Lace said a friend recommended the Bradenton home as a good place to get back on her feet after dealing with issues at another home. She said Botek was nice at first, but quickly changed.
“I should've ran his background and I didn't and that was on me,” Lace said. “He cannot control himself out here he can't handle himself.”
Lace said she thought Botek was going to kill her and called 911. She was able to record some of her attack on her cell phone and played it back to detectives.
Botek is held on a more than $400,000 bond at the Manatee County Jail. According to the Florida Department of Corrections, he was released from prison in January.
