SARASOTA, Fla. — A known sex offender is accused of sexually abusing a 21-year-old with autism in the Tampa Bay region.
The Sarasota County Sheriff's Office says the young woman's mom walked out of a store to find 61-year-old Frank Szakacs on top of her daughter inside the passenger seat of the family's car.
According to investigators, Szakacs had climbed in while the mother ran inside the building for 10 minutes around 7 p.m. on Stickney Point Road in Sarasota. The sheriff's office says the woman he sexually assaulted was non-verbal and had the capacities of a 6 or 7-year-old child.
Deputies responded, and Szakacs was arrested in a nearby wooded area. He was charged with sexual assault and kidnapping. As of Wednesday, he was still being held without bond.
Szakacs was originally convicted of gross sexual imposition back in 1996 in Ohio. Deputies say he failed to follow sex offender registration requirements in 2019 in Sarasota. As a result, he 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," the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office wrote in a press release. "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."
More charges are expected in this case, according to law enforcement.
The sheriff's office provided a list of Szakacs's previous charges since 2010, most of which happened outside the agency's jurisdiction or were for probation violations.
"He did not commit many 'new' crimes in Sarasota County," a spokesperson wrote in an email.
You can view the list below.
- May 15, 2019 - Sex offender violation
- May 8, 2019 - Probation violation
- Feb. 16, 2017 - Out-of-county warrants for failure to appear and criminal contempt
- Oct. 6, 2016 - DUI and DUI refusal to submit, along with a moving traffic violation for knowingly driving while a license was suspended or revoked
- Sept. 29, 2016 - Driving while license suspended, along with a moving traffic violation for driving with an expired license and failing to register a motor vehicle
- Dec. 30, 2015 - Out-of-county warrant in Pinellas County
- Oct. 18, 2015 - Battery
- June 14, 2010 - Sex offender violation