Florida man sentenced after abusing runaway girl in Manatee County, records say
A man accused of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old runaway girl after picking her up in Manatee County will spend a decade in prison, according to court records.
Quinton Latroy Harvey, 46, pleaded no contest Feb. 24 to one count of lewd or lascivious battery and was sentenced to 10 years in prison, followed by two years of sex offender probation, court records show. Circuit Judge Frederick Mercurio also designated Harvey a sexual offender and ordered that he have no contact with the victim.
Harvey faced a potential mandatory life sentence if convicted at trial under Florida’s sentencing guidelines, according to court records.
His attorney, Jonah Dickstein, said the plea brought the case to a negotiated resolution.
“The prosecution, the judge, and the defense worked carefully together in this sensitive case to reach a fair result,” Dickstein told the Bradenton Herald.
Man sentenced in sexual abuse case
The case stemmed from an April 2023 investigation after a 13-year-old girl was reported as a runaway, according to an arrest report.
The girl’s mother reported her missing that month, and the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office said they later located her in Apollo Beach.
During an initial interview with Manatee County Sheriff’s Office deputies, the girl said she had been picked up by an unknown man who introduced himself as “George,” and that the two drove around Bradenton and Sarasota before he dropped her off at a diner. She initially denied that any sexual contact occurred, the arrest report states.
Two days later, the girl told investigators she had withheld information because she was afraid she would get into trouble, according to the report.
She told deputies the man pressured her into sexual acts while they were together, despite her telling him she did not want to, the report states. Investigators wrote that Harvey sexually abused the girl in the back seat of his vehicle in parking lots near a bar and at a 7-Eleven in Sarasota.
Detectives later identified the man as Harvey through a phone number the victim provided to investigators. Investigators traced the number to an address in Ruskin associated with Harvey, according to the report.
The victim later identified Harvey in a photographic line-up conducted during a recorded interview with investigators, the report says.
Deputies arrested Harvey a few months later and initially charged him with sexual battery. Prosecutors later amended the case to include three counts of lewd or lascivious battery involving a victim between the ages of 12 and 15, court records show.
Under the plea agreement, Harvey pleaded to one count of lewd or lascivious battery. Prosecutors dropped the remaining two counts, according to court records.
