EUSTIS, Fla. – A man has pleaded guilty to attempted sexual battery and attempted murder in a string of attacks out of Eustis in 2023, according to the State Attorney’s Office of Florida’s Fifth Judicial Circuit.
Jephson Seguin, 22, was arrested on multiple charges and tied to at least three attacks on women since April that year, according to the Eustis Police Department.
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The most recent incident happened in June 2023, where a victim contacted the police department after she was attacked along Morningview Drive in Eustis, the release said.
According to investigators, a man wearing a surgical mask — later identified as Seguin — ran up behind the woman while she was walking, groped her and then threw her on the ground. When the victim yelled at him to let her go, he fled, police said. The victim told officers she heard gunshots a few moments after.
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When officers responded to the attack, they said they spotted a man in a pickup truck hiding behind the dash who matched the suspect’s physical description.
When police approached him, he fled and attempted to run over an officer, who then opened fire, the release stated.
Home surveillance footage showed Seguin running from the attack location to his vehicle, investigators said.
An arrest warrant for Seguin was issued and he was found two days later with a bullet wound, police said. He was hospitalized and admitted to being in the driver’s seat when he was shot, according to the state attorney’s office.
Seguin was also accused of sexually assaulting a woman who was jogging at Country Club Road and Club Hills Drive in April 2023 and attacking another on May 1, Eustis police Captain Jon Fahning said.
Seguin was arrested to face charges of attempted sexual battery with force while wearing a mask, attempted first-degree murder of a law enforcement officer with a weapon while mearing a mask and fleeing or attempting to elude law enforcement. He pleaded guilty to all three charges on Monday, according to the Lake County Clerk of Court.
Seguin was sentenced to 15 years in prison — to be followed by an additional 15 years of sex offender probation — and has been designated as a sexual predator, according to the state attorney’s office.
“The sense of security taken from this victim by this defendant and the crimes he committed after that are deserving of this 15-year sentence,” Walter Forgie, chief assistant state attorney, said in a statement.