- April 18, 2024
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The Volusia County Sheriff's Office, with assistance by the Indian River County Sheriff's Office, put a 41-year-old sex offender behind bars for a 2008 rape case in Ormond Beach that had grown cold. Less than four hours later, the man was released on bond.
Vero Beach resident Adam Schuman was charged with sexual assault for a rape that happened in the sand dunes around the 300 block of S. Atlantic Avenue at around 4 a.m. on Sept. 14, 2008. The victim was 47-years-old at the time and was visiting her daughter and grandchildren in Ormond Beach. According to the police report, the victim decided to take a walk on the beach that morning to clear her mind from some personal issues when she was approached by Schuman.
Schuman was in a vehicle and asked her if she wanted to go for a ride with him, to which she declined. He persisted, telling her she had a "nice tan," was good-looking and that he was "into older women." Schuman then left, only to find her again later as she sat on the beach, where he raped her after dragging her into a dune are covered with vegetation.
After the incident, the victim submitted to a forensic exam and the physical evidence stored at VCSO's evidence unit. The case turned cold and remained so until October of 2015 after State Attorney Pam Bondi pushed for funding to help ease the backlog of unsolved sexual assault cases.
Eventually, this led to a DNA match in this rape case. Schuman was arrested at 10:50 a.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 30. By 2:01 p.m., he was out on a $50,000 bond from the Indian River County Jail.
Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood said this was an "absolute disgrace."
He said Schuman was registered as a sex offender in 1998 for having sex with a minor and that he hasn't complied with the rules and regulations regarding that and therefore has to wear an ankle monitor. He said he has a great deal of respect for the judge in this case, but that he "absolutely dropped the ball on this."
"You have a violent sexual assault that occurred," Chitwood said. "You have a guy who’s currently on an ankle monitor because he can’t comply with the rules and regulations of being a registered sex offender and he’s offended in the past. So what do we do? We give him a low amount of bond and he’s able to get out of jail, and I think it’s a slap in the face to the victim that that type of bond was put on this guy."
Chitwood said if Schuman gets convicted, he could potentially spend the rest of his life in jail. For now, he's out.
It's a result of the bail schedule system that the state attorney and the judges have put in place, Chitwood said. If it’s a more liberal county, he said it’ll have lower bonds. If it’s a more conservative county, the bonds will be higher.
But judges also have the option to deny bond to a suspect and subject them to a hearing instead. That didn't happen in this case.
“I think he got a judge who just is concerned more with holding somebody in jail than victim’s rights and doing the right thing to protect this community," Chitwood said.
