Inset: Elmoncy Sercle (Miami-Dade Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation). Background: Serena Hotel in Aventura, Florida (Google Maps).
A rendezvous at a Florida hotel turned violent when a man ran over a woman after she refused to allow him to smell her feet, cops say.
An incident took place around 2 p.m. on Aug. 24 at the Serena Hotel in Aventura, approximately 20 miles north of Miami. According to the arrest affidavit, the victim began communicating with a man named Elmoncy Sercle on the dating app Seeking, and they decided to meet up at the hotel.
When she went up to the room, 28-year-old Sercle allegedly asked to smell her feet and buy her used shoes.
The victim informed Sercle that her rate, being a foot model, was $1,000. She explained that she needed to retrieve the sneakers from her car and reportedly mentioned that she went to the restroom, at which point she noticed Sercle running out of the room. Believing he had stolen something, she chased him to the parking garage, according to the affidavit.
Upon reaching the garage, she saw him in a red Mercedes SUV. He reportedly drove past her, stopped, made a three-point turn, and then allegedly ran over her. The victim sustained road rash and bruising on her back, arms, and chest, requiring “immediate medical attention,” as stated by the authorities.
Sercle allegedly fled the scene but was later arrested on a charge of aggravated battery.
Local independent station WPLG interviewed the victim.
“When I arrived, he just wanted to sniff my feet, which made me uncomfortable,” she explained to the TV station. “You can have my sneakers; I don’t mind. They’re just stinky old sneakers, and I’m not wearing them. But people have unusual preferences.”
She called the incident “extremely bizarre.”
“I’ve never encountered anything like this,” she added. “Although I’ve met many people with foot fetishes, none have ever behaved to this extreme.”
But she’s thankful she survived.
“By the grace of God, I’m still standing today,” she said.
Sercle has since bonded out of jail and is slated to appear in court on Sept. 29.
Authorities claim Sercle has multiple open cases in Miami-Dade County, allegedly involving meeting women through dating apps, booking hotels, and then robbing them of their belongings.
