Sex Predator Faces Fourth Molestation Charge

HUDSON FLORIDA — Frank Guzman's first arrest for lewd and lascivious fondling of a child came in 1986.

The second came in 1996.

The third came in 1997.

He was convicted in each case.

The 51-year-old car mechanic is registered as a sexual predator. Thursday, he returned to the Land O'Lakes jail on new charges of lewd and lascivious molestation.

He faces a possible life sentence if convicted.

The latest allegations stem from a July 19 incident in Hudson involving two girls, ages 10 and 12, a report from the Pasco County Sheriff's Office said.

The girls' relationship to Guzman, of 10723 Tami Trail, was not disclosed because of the nature of the charges.

Thursday marked Guzman's 13th arrest in Florida. His first arrest came in 1984, at age 26, for burglary in Pasco County. He was convicted and got two years of probation.

Guzman's first sex offense came two years later. He was convicted and, again, got two years of probation.

He was arrested in 1996 and spent two months in jail for fondling a child. He was arrested for the same charge the next year and was convicted. He spent more than five years in prison.

Guzman's other arrests have included charges of prowling, reckless driving, theft, aggravated assault with a weapon and battery on a police officer.

He is charged with two counts of lewd and lascivious molestation for the latest allegations. Guzman remained Friday at the Land O'Lakes jail in lieu of $110,000 bail.

Unfortunately, Florida is becoming known for having a high percentage of sex offenders.  Many of the leading, national crimes against children have been taking place in Florida.  Keeping tabs on registered sex offenders and predators is key to ensuring children's safety and well-being.

The sexual offender database is easy to use and is available online. It is a free service and citizens should use the database on a regular basis. Though you can never predict the behavior someone might commit in the future, it is important to realize that repeat offenders perform many of the most heinous crimes against children.

After two years in the public spotlight, Mark Lunsford has polished his public persona. Speaking about his daughter Jessica’s murder, he’s calm, collected, on point: we have to arrest, convict and hand down stiff penalties to criminals who prey on our children. He’s careful to suppress his raw emotions – his physical exhaustion, his frustration with the legal system, what he’d really like to happen to his daughter’s accused murderer, John Couey.

What has life been life in the past two years since Jessica disappeared?

Not worth a damn. There are a lot of good things that have happened and become of it, but that doesn’t change life for a parent. Your life is just totally destroyed. It’s changed forever. It will never be the same. Your will never be the same. People will never understand you and they’ll never understand why you’re so angry, because they can go back to their normal lives and let it roll off. It never rolls off.

 But people have had enough. And I think that it’s time – I always said in the beginning that it was time to turn the tables. Instead of them stalking our children, we and stalk them. U.S. Marshalls. FBI. And instead of them being our kids worse nightmare, we become theirs. Prosecutors, we need you to work harder. If there is something you need to get more convictions, then you need to let a child advocate know so they can go to Tallahassee and pull for you. If judges need something, then let someone know so we can go up there and pull for you. You got a little girl in Jacksonville that was molested, and the guy got a year’s probation? You got a school teacher (in Tampa) where his peers are protecting him? We give our kids to the schools and you’re supposed to take care of them. You got them. And you let something like that happen, and you let it go? And it happens again? All of those people should have it shoved right down their throat, and none of them should work in the school system. There job was to protect our children, not their peers.

Do you have complete faith in our justice system, and describe what justice looks like for Jessie in particular.

Well, I won’t say Jessie in particular. But what justice looks like? It’s multi-colored, it has a lot of shapes and sizes, and we never know which way it’s going to go. We never know.

And the judge making some very powerful comments here as he sentenced John Evander Couey. Couey showed absolutely no reaction. The judge called Couey's actions determined and savage. He used this phrase, that he said -- quote -- "Civil society recoils about what this little girl went through."

He called Couey's actions heinous, atrocious and cruel. He said that Couey's actions -- quote -- "crushed the very life and breath from this little girl."

And, before Couey was sentenced, the judge sent into great detail, horrific detail, about what happened to little Jessica Lunsford, and perhaps some of this bears repeating. The judge did this in order to prove to the court aggravating circumstances under which this little girl was killed.

He reminded everyone that Couey dug a hole, got a rake, obtained garbage bags, then convinced and coaxed this little girl to get inside the garbage bag, because he said he told the little girl that he would take her back home to her father if she got inside the bag. He just didn't want anyone to see him returning her back home.

But, instead, he tied up the bag at both ends, and then he reminded the court of the evidence in this case, that this little girl poked two of her little fingers through the garbage bags in order to try to escape, and that she suffocated to death, death taking anywhere, the judge said, from 1.5 to eight minutes before she died.

Again, the judge had to put this into the record because under Florida law, in order to qualify for the death sentence, certain conditions have to be met. And part of that involves aggravating circumstances. And this, the judge said, certainly qualifies to that end.

Pedophiles can be anyone -- old or young, rich or poor, educated or uneducated, non-professional or professional, and of any race. However, pedophiles often demonstrate similar characteristics, but these are merely indicators and it should not be assumed that individuals with these characteristics are pedophiles. But knowledge of these characteristics coupled with questionable behavior can be used as an alert that someone may be a pedophile.

Characteristics of a Pedophile :

• Often the pedophile is male and over 30 years of age.
• Single or with few friends in his age group.
• If married, the relationship is more "companion" based with no sexual relations.
• He is often vague about time gaps in employment which may indicate a loss in employment for questionable reasons or possible past incarceration.

Pedophiles Like Child-like Activities:

• He is often fascinated with children and child activities appearing to prefer those activities to adult oriented activities.
• He will often refer to children in pure or angelic terms using descriptives like innocent, heavenly, divine, pure, and other words that describe children but seem inappropriate and exaggerated.
• He has hobbies that are child-like such as collecting popular expensive toys, keeping reptiles or exotic pets, or building plane and car models.

Pedophiles Often Prefer Children Close to Puberty:

• Pedophiles often have a specific age of child they target. Some prefer younger children, some older.
• Often his environment or a special room will be decorated in child-like decor and will appeal to the age and sex of the child he is trying to entice.
• Many pedophiles often prefer children close to puberty who are sexually inexperienced, but curious about sex.

Pedophiles Work Around Children: The pedophile will often be employed in a position that involves daily contact with children. If not employed, he will put himself in a position to do volunteer work with children, often in a supervisory capacity such as sports coaching, contact sport instruction, unsupervised tutoring or a position where he has the opportunity to spend unsupervised time with a child.The Target Child: The pedophile often seeks out shy, handicapped, and withdrawn children, or those who come from troubled homes or under privileged homes. He then showers them with attention, gifts, taunting them with trips to desirable places like amusement parks, zoo's, concerts, the beach and other such places.Manipulation of the Innocent: Pedophiles work to master their manipulative skills and often unleash them on troubled children by first becoming their friend, building the the child's self esteem. They may refer to the child as special or mature, appealing to their need to be heard and understood then entice them with adult type activities that are often sexual in content such as x-rated movies or pictures. They offer them alcohol or drugs to hamper their ability to resist activities or recall events that occurred.Stockholm Syndrome : It is not unusual for the child to develop feelings for the predator and desire their approval and continued acceptance. They will compromise their innate ability to decipher good and bad behavior, ultimately justifying the criminal's bad behavior out of sympathy and concern for the adults welfare. This is often compared to Stockholm Syndrome - when victims become attached emotionally to their captors.The Single Parent: Many times pedophiles will develop a close relationship with a single parent in order to get close to their children. Once inside the home, they have many opportunities to manipulate the children -- using guilt, fear, and love to confuse the child. If the child's parent works, it offers the pedophile the private time needed to abuse the child.Fighting Back: Pedophiles work hard at stalking their targets and will patiently work to develop relationships with them. It is not uncommon for them to be developing a long list of potential victims at any one time. Many of them believe that what they are doing is not wrong and that having sex with a child is actually "healthy" for the child.

Almost all pedophiles have a collection of pronography, which they protect at all costs. Many of them also collect "souvenirs" from their victims. They rarely discard either their porn or collections for any reason.

One factor that works against the pedophile is that eventually the children will grow up and recall the events that occurred. Often pedophiles are not brought to justice until such time occurs and victims are angered by being victimized and want to protect other children from the same consequences.

Laws such as Megan's Law - a federal law passed in 1996 that authorizes local law enforcement agencies to notify the public about convicted sex offenders living, working or visiting their communities, have helped expose the pedophile and allows parents to better protect their children.