Non-Verbal Autistic Woman Assaulted By Homeless Sex Offender In Sarasota: Sheriff

SARASOTA, FL — A homeless sex offender faces multiple charges in Sarasota after taking advantage of a 21-year-old autistic woman with the mental capacity of a 6- or 7-year-old child, the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.

Frank Szakacs, 61, has been charged with sexual assault and kidnapping, SCSO said. Additional charges are pending as the investigation continues.

On Tuesday around 7 p.m., the victim and her mother were in a parking lot in the 1800 block of Stickney Point Road in Sarasota. The woman stayed in their vehicle, in the passenger seat, while her mother went into a store.

When her mother left the store 10 minutes later, she found Szakacs inside the vehicle and on top of her daughter, who is non-verbal, the sheriff’s office said.

Through interviews, including one with a friend of Szakacs, who witnessed the incident, detectives learned the registered sex offender entered the vehicle and sexually assaulted the victim, SCSO said.

Deputies found Szakacs in a wooded area near the parking lot where the assault happened. He was taken into custody and charged. He remains in custody without bond, the sheriff’s office said.

Szakacs has 10 prior arrests in Sarasota County for crimes including sex offender violation, battery and a DUI.

He was originally convicted in 1996 of gross sexual imposition in Cuyahoga, Ohio, the sheriff’s office said. 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 Nov. 30 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 a DUI conviction. In total, he has 29 prior charges and four convictions, the sheriff’s office said.