ST. PETERSBURG – On Tuesday, St. Petersburg Police charged a 19-year-old man with repeatedly raping an 11-year-old boy in the weeks before Christmas.

Mark Anthony Thompson was arrested and charged with sexual battery of a child less than 12 years old.

Police said the victim was spending afternoons with a relative while his mother worked. Thompson was reportedly staying with the same relative.

Police said Thompson began sexually battering the child on November 25th, and the abuse continued through December. The child’s mother, suspecting something was wrong, started asking questions. She questioned her child December 20th at the relative’s house.

Police said as the child told his mother Thompson had shared marijuana with him, Thompson went into a bedroom, locked the door, changed clothes, and escaped out of a window.

After the child told his mother about the alleged assault, she took him to a hospital to be examined and called police.

Acting on a tip from the child’s mother, Thompson was arrested sitting in his car in the parking lot of the Lake Vista Recreation Center. He is being held under a bond of $50,000, and a judge has ordered him to have no contact with the victim.