Homeless man arrested after allegedly taking advantage of disabled woman

SARASOTA COUNTY, Fla. (WWSB) - A homeless man, who is a registered sex offender, has been arrested after allegedly taking advantage of a 21-year-old disabled woman with developmental disabilities from autism.

Frank Szakacs, 61, has been charged with sexual assault and kidnapping. According to deputies, on Tuesday around 7 p.m. the victim and her mother were in a parking lot in the 1800 block of Stickney Point Road in Sarasota.

According to the victim’s mother, she entered a store while her daughter stayed in the car. The victim’s mother came out 10 minutes later to find Szakacs inside her vehicle on top of her daughter, deputies said.

Due to the victim’s disability, she is nonverbal and has the capacities of a 6-to-7-year-old child, according to deputies.

Through interviews, including with a friend of Szakacs who saw the incident, detectives found that Szakacs entered the vehicle and sexually assaulted the victim.

Deputies found the suspect in a wooded area near the parking lot. He was taken into custody and remains in custody without bond.

According to deputies, Szakacs has 10 prior arrests in Sarasota County for crimes including sex offender violation, battery and DUI. He was originally convicted in 1996 of gross sexual imposition in Cuyahoga, Ohio. He then failed to meet sex offender registration requirements in Sarasota in 2019 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 has 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.

The investigation is ongoing and additional charges are pending.