Police arrest man accused of sexually assaulting Mecklenburg courthouse worker, fleeing

A 24-year-old man hit and sexually assaulted a worker on the eighth floor of the Mecklenburg County courthouse before fleeing Tuesday afternoon, police said.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police arrested Devante Johnson late Tuesday after the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office said he hit a female worker in the head at the courthouse on E. 4th Street, The Charlotte Observer previously reported.

Officers found the woman inside the Area Mental Health office after she was physically and sexually assaulted, according to a CMPD news release. While being treated for non-life-threatening injuries at a hospital, the woman identified Johnson as her attacker, police said.

Johnson is charged with attempted second-degree rape, attempted second-degree sex offense, kidnapping, sexual battery, assault on a female, common law robbery, interfering with emergency communication, communicating threats, damage to property, and indecent exposure, police said. He was being held Friday in the Mecklenburg County Detention Center.

Johnson is a registered sex offender, the Sheriff’s Office said, and he wasn’t scheduled for an appointment at the courthouse at the time of the incident.

Sheriff Garry McFadden told WBTV that Tuesday’s assault is unfortunate, but that assaults happen often in the community. The case will be reviewed and the Sheriff’s Office will make changes if needed about staffing and security at the courthouse, McFadden told the TV station.