Sarasota man gets life for sexually assaulting disabled woman

SARASOTA, Fla. (WWSB) - A Sarasota man was sentenced to life in prison for sexually assaulting a disabled woman in a parking lot last year, the state attorney’s office said.

A jury on Thursday convicted Frank Szakacs, 62, of two counts of lewd or lascivious molestation upon a disabled person and one count of burglary of a car while committing a battery. Circuit Court Judge Thomas Krug immediately sentenced Szakacs to life in prison.

The crimes occurred in January 2022 outside of a store in a busy shopping plaza near Stickney Point Road and U.S. 41.

The jury heard testimony from the victim’s mother that she entered a store while her mentally disabled and nonverbal daughter stayed in the car. When the mother returned a short time later, she found her passenger door open and Szakacs on top of her daughter inside the car.

The jury also heard testimony that Szakacs had lured the victim out of the car with pizza while her mother was in the store.

A bystander testified that when she walked into the store, she witnessed Szakacs molesting the victim at the outdoor table of the pizza restaurant next door.

Szakacs was already a registered sex offender. In 1996, Szakacs was convicted in Ohio for a sexual offense on a 10-year-old. He has been convicted of failing to register as a sex offender numerous times, prosecutors said.