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Man accused of raping neighbor, offering to do yard work to make amends

BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. (WFLA) – An 18-year-old Florida man is accused of breaking into his neighbor’s home, raping her and advising her to “deadbolt” her door in the future, The Palm Beach Post reports.

Timothy Walding was jailed on charges of armed sexual battery and false imprisonment last Friday.

According to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, his neighbor woke up early Friday morning to find a man in a ski mask hovering over her bed. The man “placed his hand tight over her mouth and told her not to scream while holding a knife to her neck.”  He proceeded to tie the woman’s hands together, undressed her and raped her, before forcing her to perform oral sex on him, she told deputies.

She said she cried and pleaded with the intruder to spare her life. He put his knife away and let her put on her clothes.

“(The intruder) kept telling her that she knew him,” the report said. He “continued talking to her about his life” and said he couldn’t imagine leaving two children without a mother.

He told the woman his mother died when he was twelve. The more he opened up, the more she realized he was “very young,” detectives said.

She started piecing together the clues and asked the intruder if he was Walding, her neighbor. Walding then took off the mask and revealed himself, according to the report.

Walding told the woman he came in through the front door. “You really should deadbolt your door because I didn’t really want to do this, but I had to do it,” he said, according to deputies.

When the woman asked Walding to explain his violent actions, he allegedly said, “obviously, it wasn’t a spontaneous thing and I had this plan.”

The report said Walding asked the woman “if he could make this up to her by doing some yard work or by fixing something around her house.”

She eventually talked him into untying her hands and letting her outside to smoke a cigarette. While outside, Walding asked her not to report what happened, and made her shake on it. After the woman shook Walding’s hands, he walked back to his home. The woman immediately locked the doors and called 911.

Deputies arrived at Walding’s home and took him into custody. He’s being held at the Palm Beach County Jail without bond.