Background: The location where Antonio Gueits allegedly fatally assaulted a woman before robbing her of her purse (Google Maps). Inset: Antonio Gueits (Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office).
A Florida teenager has been charged with murder after the “severely injured” victim of an alleged Christmastime robbery and assault died in the hospital.
Antonio Gueits, 18, is facing a felony murder charge for the death of Cerida Charon, 65. According to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, in the early morning hours of Dec. 26, 2024, Gueits attacked Charon in an incident that was captured by a surveillance camera.
Gueits “approached the victim and struck her in the face, causing her to collapse,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement. “While she laid unconscious, he repeatedly stomped on her head, inflicting severe injuries, including multiple broken bones and a brain bleed. After stealing her purse, he fled the scene.”
Deputies were called to the scene shortly before 7 a.m., the sheriff’s office said.
“Upon arrival, deputies found a severely injured woman who had been brutally attacked and robbed,” the statement added.
Detectives identified Gueits later that day and took him into custody “without incident,” according to the statement.
A motion to keep Gueits behind bars pending trial describes what allegedly happened starting at around 3:56 a.m. that day.
“[V]ideo surveillance captured[] the elderly victim, being approached by the defendant while she was sitting on a bench inside the University Community Park,” the motion says. “Several seconds later, the victim stands up from the bench and cowers away from the defendant, at which time, the defendant punches the victim on the right side of her face causing her to fall to the ground. The defendant then delivers a kick to the victim causing her to fall over and then begins to stomp and kick the victim repeatedly, causing her to sustain several broken bones to her face and a brain bleed.”
As Charon lay unconscious, Gueits is allegedly seen rummaging through her belongings before taking her purse and fleeing the scene.
“Several minutes later the defendant returns to where the victim was laying and grabs her upper body and throws her back to the ground,” the statement says. “The defendant then grabs her legs and drags her a short distance away from where she laid unconscious. The defendant takes the victim’s shopping cart, which was parked next to the bench, and rolls it over to the unconscious victim. He then turns the cart on its side and places it next to the victim’s body and kicks the victim again, then flees the scene.”
After he was taken into custody by detectives, Gueits allegedly admitted to the assault.
“Post-Miranda, the defendant admitted to the offense, identified himself as the person in the surveillance video and said that during the heat of the moment it felt good while he was hitting her (victim) because it felt good to get his anger out.”
After she was taken to the hospital, Charon was able to respond to detectives’ interview questions. She indicated that she “had no memory of the incident,” the filing says. Charon was pronounced dead on March 16 and prosecutors soon after added the murder charge for Gueits.
The prosecution’s motion for detention says that Gueits’ criminal history includes convictions for aggravated assault with a weapon, battery and theft.
According to court records, Gueits has a hearing scheduled for March 27.
