PANAMA CITY — A Kansas spring breaker has pleaded not guilty to charges that he broke into a snowbird’s rented condo and attacked the elderly man for no apparent reason, according to court records.
Keith Leon Rakestraw, 23, waived an appearance in Bay County Court Monday for a hearing of the charges against him. Rakestraw faces charges of burglary of an occupied dwelling and battery on a person more than 65 years old after a March incident in which 93-year-old Joseph Calderon was attacked, court records indicated.
Rakestraw pleaded not guilty to the charges last week.
Authorities have yet to release a reason why Rakestraw entered the condo at 5127 Gulf Drive and began striking Calderon with a PVC pipe. However, officers reported Rakestraw walked through the front door where Calderon was seated on a couch. He began striking the couch with a newspaper and then striking Calderon with the PVC pipe in the arm and cheek before fleeing the condo, officers reported.
Calderon, of Quebec, Canada, suffered minor lacerations and bruising. He said he didn’t know Rakestraw and had never seen him before the attack.
Rakestraw, of Chetopa, Kan., is scheduled for a pretrial conference on July 9.