Registered sex offender arrested after disabled woman assaulted in Sarasota parking lot

A homeless man has been arrested after a 21-year-old mentally disabled woman was sexually assaulted Tuesday evening in a store parking lot in Sarasota, the sheriff’s office said Wednesday.

The woman, who is autistic and non-verbal with the mental capacity of a 6- to 7-year-old child, was waiting for her mother to return from a store about 7 p.m. in the 1800 block of Stickney Point Road, Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.

Within 10 minutes, the mother returned to find a man inside of the vehicle and on top of her daughter.

Frank Szakacs, 61, was arrested on a charge of sexual assault and kidnapping after he was found in a nearby wooded area. His friend also told deputies he witnessed the incident.

Detectives learned Szakacs is a registered sex offender and has 29 previous criminal charges and four convictions in various jurisdictions, including 10 arrests in Sarasota County for sex offender violation, battery and DUI.

He was originally convicted in 1996 of gross sexual imposition in Cuyahoga, Ohio, the sheriff’s office said. Has served several prison sentences, including in 1987 for robbery and 2016 for a fourth DUI.

In 2019, he failed to meet sex offender registration requirements in Sarasota and was sentenced to three years in prison. He was released on Nov. 30, 2021, the sheriff’s office said, and he registered as a transient living in Venice, and more recently along Ashton Road in Sarasota.

The investigation is ongoing, and additional charges are possible