Known sexual offender accused of touching girls at a pool sought on new charges

Reporter: Gina Tomlinson Writer: Derrick Shaw
Published: Updated:
Mugshot of Timothy Rice, 41. (Credit: CCSO)
Mugshot of Timothy Rice, 41. (Credit: CCSO)

Police are searching for a known sexual offender out of jail on bond in North Port Wednesday afternoon.

Timothy Rice, 41, was arrested at the Ann and Chuck Dever Regional Park pool in Englewood Friday after a parent said he squeezed her daughter’s butt and asked for a kiss.

Rice has since bonded out of jail and is now being sought because police feel after the Englewood incident there’s enough evidence to file charges of Loitering or Prowling near children at a pool near the Woodlands community.

Rice already faces charges of Loitering or Prowling by Certain Offenders in Close Proximity to Children, a first-degree misdemeanor.

Rice’s initial arrest follows several incidents of suspicious behavior. On March 21, a parent alerted the Ann and Chuck Dever Regional Park Aquatics Coordinator that her daughter was touched by a man at the pool the day before, per the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office press release.

MORE: Search for a Sexual Offender by name or location

The next day, Detectives returned to the pool, after they were alerted to Rice’s presence. The lifeguard said Rice had been at the pool for approximately two weeks, bringing toys like squirt guns and only playing with children there, the press release states. Also, he was told by a parent that her daughter had her butt squeezed and that Rice requested a kiss.

Previously, Rice was a lifeguard in St. Petersburg in 1998, when he was convicted of molesting several girls at an apartment complex pool.

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