Florida sex offender sexually assaults autistic woman in parking lot with mother inside store, police say

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A homeless sex offender released from prison two months ago was arrested again in Florida for allegedly sexually assaulting a 21-year-old autistic woman while her mother briefly popped into a store.  

Frank Szakacs, a registered sex offender with 29 prior charges and four convictions, climbed into a parked vehicle in Sarasota Tuesday evening and sexually assaulted the autistic woman, who is nonverbal and has the mental capacity of a 6- or 7-year-old, according to the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office. 

The victim’s mother told authorities she left her daughter in the passenger seat of her car in a parking lot in the 1800 block of Stickney Point Road around 7 p.m. She said she exited the store 10 minutes later to find the 61-year-old transient inside the vehicle and on top of her daughter. 

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Detectives in Florida arrested 61-year-old Frank Szakacs, a homeless sex offender, for sexual assault and kidnapping after he allegedly took advantage of a 21-year-old disabled woman with developmental disabilities from autism. (Sarasota County Sheriff's Office)

A friend of Szakacs' claimed to have witnessed the incident, according to the sheriff’s office. Deputies located Szakacs in a wooded area near the parking lot and took him into custody. He is charged with sexual assault and kidnapping and remained held without bond as of Tuesday evening.

The investigation into the incident is ongoing and additional charges are pending.

Szakacs has 10 prior arrests in Sarasota County for crimes including sex offender violation, battery and DUI. He was convicted in 1996 of gross sexual imposition in Ohio, according to Florida records. 

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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, 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.