Palmetto Man Arrested For 2015 Sexual Battery Of A Child: Police

SARASOTA, FL — A 45-year-old Palmetto man has been arrested by Sarasota police in connection with a 2015 sexual abuse case involving a child.

Clifton Bean faces two charges of sexual battery on a victim over 12 years old, Sarasota police said in a news release. Police worked with the United States Marshals Service Florida Regional Fugitive Task Force to make the arrest.

Sarasota police first learned of the sexual abuse in February 2015. A family member told detectives that Bean touched the victim, a young girl, inappropriately.

In March 2015, the girl was unable to speak with detectives, though. Bean was arrested a week later on unrelated drug charges and served five years in prison. He was released Dec. 1, police said.

Detectives began reviewing the case again when the victim told them that Bean texted her Jan. 17, saying, “I haven’t seen you for some time now, could you please send me a selfie?”

She told detectives that “she didn’t want another child to go through what she did,” police said. She told police that Bean sexually abused her when she was in elementary school from the time she was 8 to 12 years old.

Bean was arrested Jan. 21 and brought to Sarasota County Jail, where he is being held on a $300,000 bond.