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Sex offender arrested in attack of 93-year-old woman in Arlington home

Joseph Lee Jackson, 59, faces several charges including home invasion robbery

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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office has arrested a sex offender accused of attacking a 93-year-old woman in her Arlington home.

Joseph Lee Jackson, 59, faces several charges including home invasion robbery, criminal mischief and resisting an officer. Detectives say they received a tip from a citizen which lead to Jackson's arrest.

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According to the Florida sex offender registry, Jackson served time in prison for sexual battery on a child in 2001. 

Investigators say Jackson is the man seen in surveillance images and video released Thursday.

They said back in June, Jackson crept into a woman's home while she slept, threatened and hit her and then made off with some of her belongings.

WATCH: Surveillance video shows man lurking outside of Arlington home

The woman's family said Jackson returned to the University Park home near University Boulevard and Fort Caroline Road at least twice after the attack, first on Aug. 19 and then again on Sept. 15.

"He went into my mother's bedroom and shined a light in her eye and so she couldn't see who he was," Terry Kelly, the woman's son, told News4Jax, describing the initial incident. "She woke up and she screamed and he slapped her and told her to be quiet and to stay here and, 'If you get up and move around, I'll come back to hurt you.'"

He said the family has taken steps to tighten up her home security in the wake of the terrifying ordeal.

"To target older people like that, I'd like to see the guy caught and off the streets," Kelly said. "We replaced everything with metal doors, put new windows in, put an alarm system in, put security cameras up. So we've done all that."

He added that he's also replaced cameras that were stolen and replaced a security light in the back that was disabled. News4Jax crime and safety expert Ken Jefferson said the woman did the right thing by adding surveillance to her home. 

News4Jax has chosen not to identify the woman for her safety.

"She is a strong woman. She just said, 'I'm not going to let anybody scare me,'" Kelly said.

He said he has received a lot of support after the story was reported on the news.


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