Detectives arrested a homeless sex offender in Sarasota, for sexual assault and kidnapping of a 21-year-old disabled woman with developmental disabilities from Autism.

SCSO

The Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office arrested a homeless sex offender for Sexual Assault and Kidnapping after he took advantage of a 21-year-old disabled woman with developmental disabilities from Autism.  

On Tuesday evening around 7:00 p.m., the victim and her mother were in a parking lot in the 1800 block of Stickney Point Road in Sarasota. According to the victim’s mother, she entered a store while her daughter remained in the passenger seat of her vehicle. The victim’s mother exited the store 10 minutes later to find 61-year-old Frank Szakacs inside her vehicle and on top of her daughter. Due to the victim’s diminished mental capacity, she is non-verbal and, although 21 years of age, has the capacities of a 6 to 7-year-old child. Through interviews, including with a friend of Szakacs who witnessed the incident, detectives learned the registered sex offender entered the vehicle and sexually assaulted the victim.

Deputies located Szakacs in a wooded area near the parking lot where the incident occurred. He was taken into custody and charged with Sexual Assault and Kidnapping. Today he remains in custody without bond.

Szakacs has ten prior arrests in Sarasota County for crimes including Sex Offender Violation, Battery, and DUI. He was originally convicted in 1996 of Gross Sexual Imposition in Cuyahoga, Ohio. He then failed to meet sex offender registration requirements in 2019 in Sarasota and was sentenced to three years in prison. He was released on November 30, 2021, and registered as a transient living in Venice and more recently, as a transient living along Ashton Road in Sarasota. Szakacs served several stints in prison, including in 1987 for Robbery and 2016 for his fourth or subsequent DUI conviction. In total, Szakacs has 29 prior charges and four convictions.

The investigation is ongoing, and additional charges are pending.