KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — A Knoxville man with a history of confronting people in public while intoxicated has been arrested after a jogger was assaulted on Market Square, according to the Knoxville Police Department.
KPD identified the man as Japa Goins, 34. Goins previously has been convicted of sex crimes and is a registered sex offender, according to KPD.
The state sex offender registry and state inmate records show he's been convicted of sexual battery in Hamilton County, Tenn.
Goins will face charges of aggravated kidnapping and attempted rape, and other charges are possible, according to KPD.
Investigators said they have sworn out an additional warrant charging Goins with violation of the sex offender registry.
According to the police department, the woman was running early Tuesday through Market Square near the Subway when a man there "randomly" assaulted her. He then ran off.
"Multiple bystanders came to the woman’s aid and the woman was able to escape with only minor injuries," according to a KPD news release.
Police were called to the scene just after 7 a.m.
Police identified Goins as the suspected attacker. They found him about 10 a.m. Tuesday at a state Probation and Parole Board office on Elm Street. They detained him.
According to KPD, Goins admitted assaulting the woman.
Goins pleaded guilty last month to public intoxication on the Cumberland Strip.
Records show early Aug. 27, he was shirtless and heavily intoxicated in the 2200 block of Cumberland, unsteady on his feet and yelling at people on the sidewalk.
In June 2020, he burglarized a woman's vehicle parked at an office building at 320 N. Cedar Bluff Road. When police arrived they found him unsteady on his feet, unintelligible and holding numerous items he'd taken from the vehicle, records state.
In April 2020, records show, he was on Market Square early in the morning "running up to people and yelling in a loud manner." He fled police on foot but eventually was caught.
Goins has other convictions for crimes that include theft and trespassing, records show.
