Sarasota Man Faces Charges For 1990 Sexual Battery, Child Porn Possession: Police

SARASOTA, FL — A Sarasota man faces charges of capital sexual battery on a victim under 12 and four counts of possession of child pornography, the Sarasota Police Department said in a news release.

Randall Haus, 56, is currently being held at Sarasota County Jail.

He was staying at a facility in Venice recently when he asked a nurse to help with his tablet and accessing his Google account on Nov. 17. The nurse noticed open tabs on his internet browser with words like “nude child” and called Venice police, according to the probable cause affidavit.

Because Haus is a Sarasota resident, Sarasota police were called in to assist with the case.

He admitted to having pornographic images on his tablet and told Venice police detectives that he had numerous DVDs and a computer at his home with similar videos.

During an interview with Sarasota detectives, he again admitted to possessing the child pornography images on his tablet at the Venice facility, as well as having additional images at his home, police said.

Haus also confessed to touching two young boys between 1990 and 1991. One was his best friend’s girlfriend’s son, the other a relative, according to the affidavit.

Detectives called Haus’ mother, who said that “she only thought (he) inappropriately touched a child family member in the bathtub,” the affidavit said. She helped police track down one of his victims, who told investigators that he was 5 or 6 years old when Haus inappropriately touched him, and he wanted to move forward with charges of capital sexual battery.

A search warrant allowed police to search Haus’ home in the 1300 block of Boulevard of the Arts. More than 1,000 burned DVDs at his home, many of them unlabeled, according to the affidavit. Detectives reviewed several of the DVDs, confirming that they were either child or adult pornography.

Anyone with information on this case is asked to call Detective Megan Buck at 941-263-6067 or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers by calling 941-366-TIPS or online at www.sarasotacrimestoppers.com