LAKELAND, Fla. — A known sex offender was arrested for groping a 16-year-old girl at a Chick-fil-A, according to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office.
It happened just before 3 p.m. Thursday at the restaurant on South Florida Avenue in Lakeland.
The teen told deputies she was doing schoolwork at a table in the Chick-fil-A when a man, later identified as 57-year-old Awny Basta sat down directed behind her.
“She told detectives that she felt something touch the upper part of her buttocks several times. When she turned around to see what was touching her, she saw that it was Basta’s hand,” the sheriff’s office wrote.
Detectives say the teen then confronted Basta, which led him to flee the restaurant. Chick-fil-A staff followed him and provided ongoing updates on his location to sheriff’s office dispatchers.
Basta reportedly boarded a city bus as it headed north on South Florida Avenue. That’s when restaurant employees flagged down the bus driver who stopped and asked Basta to leave.
Polk County deputies found Basta in a nearby parking lot and arrested him. He refused to speak with investigators.
Basta was charged with lewd and lascivious touch and booked into the Polk County Jail. And according to Sheriff Grady Judd, this isn’t Basta’s first offense.
“Awny Basta is a pervert, and a sex offender with an extensive criminal history. Because of his history, our detectives believe it’s possible that there are additional victims out there. If anyone thinks they may have been a victim of this man, please contact the Special Victims Unit of the Polk County Sheriff’s Office at 863-298-6200. We want to make sure he’s held accountable for everything he has done,” Judd said in a statement.
Basta was incarcerated three times between 2006 and 2011 in Tennessee on sexual battery charges.
According to the sheriff’s office, he was arrested in 2015 after groping a woman at a Panera restaurant in Lakeland. He served 180 days in jail.
He was arrested again in 2023 for allegedly groping a woman at Starbucks in Lakeland and charged with violation of probation and felony battery. He was released from prison on Oct. 18, 2024.