DOCUMENT: Florida, Crime

Cops Bust Haunted House Groper

Florida man, 50, pawed, pounded drama club teens

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Haunted House Groper

NOVEMBER 1--A drunken Florida man allegedly went on a groping rampage this weekend, pawing three girls and roughing up two boys, all of whom were working as volunteer actors at a pair of storefront haunted houses.

The five victims are each members of the Tarpon Springs High School drama club and were working for tips at the haunted houses, according to an organizer.

James Carter, 50, went into the haunted houses Friday at about 10 PM and molested the teenage girls, according to Tarpon Springs Police Department reports. One victim, 15, was lying on a table when Carter kissed her and inserted his tongue in her mouth. He then allegedly “touched the victim’s genital area through the clothing she was wearing.”

Carter, who had arrived at the haunted houses with a small group but became separated from them, also allegedly asked a 16-year-old girl, “I’m not supposed to touch you, right?” He then put his hand on the girl’s shoulder and “touched her breast through her clothing. He then tried to press his face against the victim’s,” police reported.

A third girl, 16, was outside one haunted house “wearing a costume that had an opening along the side.” Carter, cops allege, “reached inside of the opening and touched the victim’s breast and genital through the clothing.”

Carter, pictured in the above Pinellas County Sheriff's Office mug shot, has also been charged with grabbing a 15-year-old boy’s head and shaking it for “approx five to seven seconds,” and striking another boy, 14, in the stomach.

The teenagers were working at two of three adjoining haunted houses that were constructed in empty commercial storefronts. The victims were volunteering in spaces designed to resemble a gory butcher shop and a nightclub.

The suspect was charged with four counts of child abuse and one count of lewd and lascivious behavior. He was released from the Pinellas County jail Saturday afternoon after posting $60,000 bond. When Carter was arrested, he told cops his name was Richard Shore Carter (hence the use of that name in arrest affidavits). The suspect’s true identity was subsequently determined by investigators. (5 pages)

Comments (19)

He responded sub-consciously to the stimuli presented. "Dead beings can't say no" This gore thing (sorry Al) is initiating sub-conscious necrophilia.
I want an answer to what Shalom wrote above. Why do you refer to him in this article as "James Carter" when the police report lists his name as "Richard Shore Carter"? What's the deal?
Read the last line of the article. It says that "Richard Shore Carter" was the name he gave to the police. His REAL name was found out later.
that still doesnt explain why he called him James Carter.
According to the charge sheet, the pervert's name is Richard Shore Carter. So how come the article calls him "James Carter"? Misprint? Bad memories of a certain ex-peanut farmer?
hahahaha
Why doesn't this sicko just get a job working for the TSA? As of right now, your choice as a passenger is to get irradiated from the backscatter machine or get an "enhanced" pat down from the TSA.
hegemony, you're right. This guy got drunk and made some mistakes. He sexually molested minors. Maybe he does have a "fetish" and probably needs therapy. He probably should have sought help before touching minors. Btw, lots of people get drunk. Many of them make mistakes. Sometimes they get people killed. It's a really weak excuse. JHuntworth, are you serious??? Blame the victims for dressing like "sluts" at a haunted house??? They were sexually assaulted!! They were high school kids!! This guy also beat two boys. Did THEY dress in a way to provoke that?? VERY weak excuse!! Considering they didn't show any pictures of the victims or what they were wearing, it's pretty loathsome of you to even suggest it. PLEASE tell me you don't have kids of your own. If how THEY dress determines YOUR morality, they would be in great danger. Read the article. I don't think this scumbag CARED how the victims were dressed!
Ummm when you dress like a slut you attract perverts. Maybe, just maybe, 16-year old girls shouldn't use Halloween as an excuse to dress like dock-side whores. But I'm sure he would've been just as perverted if they'd actually dressed like Halloween monsters and not streetwalkers, right?
Isn't it time for you to go back under your bridge?
..
This poor guy got drunk and made some mistakes. Live and let live. He probably has a fetish and needs some professional help. No need to prosecute him. Outlaw alcohol instead, it is the devils drug.
I seem to recall an experiment conducted here in the U.S. where alcohol was outlawed. It was called Prohibition. It solved none of the problems, and made things worse.
Uh, I've been known to have a few beers, and have on occasion been three sheets to the wind. Number of people that I've fondled that were underage and/or against their will? Exactly zero. It ain't the alcohol that made him do it, sport.
It'll work out. This sleeze's life is over. He's looking at felony convictions with a lifelong tag of "sex offender/predator" on his record. He won't be able to get or keep a job, credit, or vote. AFTER he gets out of prison. And he's not going to be able to enjoy the full hospitality of prison, either, given their typical response to perverts. And if Florida's prosecuting attorneys don't do their job, basically saying, "fire my incompetent self, please!" there is still the civil court system, in which assault on a minor is good for, oh, everything this scumbag owns. He's dead. Until they bury or cremate his worthless carcass, it's just suffering time. There isn't an attorney in Florida who can get this guy off without jail time and massive destruction to his personal life.If it were me, I'd just shoot myself, and save myself the pain.
Jimmah, duz miz lillian, and rooooooooselawn know what yew been up to tonignt? you actin' lak yer late brother billlah. no more hard cider fer ewe!
And why is this drunk pervert still among the living?
Because it's not the 1950's when the cops would have went to the coffee shop while the fathers performed the acts listed in the next comment.
If guilty, then it's a shame the fathers of these assault and battered children aren't allowed to beat this scum to death. If he did to my child what he did to theirs, I would want to break his neck.