JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Jacksonville police on March 3 arrested a convicted child sexual predator who's now accused of stalking a 3-year-old boy.
Carl Saucer is charged with aggravated stalking of a victim younger than 16.
According to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, Saucer, 54, made lewd comments toward a woman's 3-year-old son inside a Waffle House on 103rd Street last week.
News4Jax crime and safety analyst Gil Smith said that was a very bold move.
"This person wasn't trying to hide. He did it in daylight and actually said these comments to the parent, so in his mind, he might not think what he said is offensive or illegal. To him, it's just normal conversation. That's why he wasn't hiding or trying to get the kids alone," Smith said.
According to Smith, that's what makes a child sexual predator even more dangerous.
"Because he did this in front of parents, he would do this in the privacy of children," Smith said.
The child's mother told police she was so upset by the ordeal that she and another woman grabbed her children and rushed out the Westside restaurant's door, but she said Saucer ran after them as they rushed to get the children into the car.
News4Jax looked into Saucer's record, finding he was convicted in 1999 of capital sexual battery against a young boy and labeled a violent sexual predator.
In most cases, Smith said, predators who are released back into society are under restrictions.
"They can't be within 300 feet of where kids congregate or be in playgrounds or public buildings like that around kids, or have any type of communication of a sexual nature," Smith said.
According to the arrest affidavit, a server also witnessed part of the incident and warned the mother that Saucer had been watching her son while peering through the window of the bathroom door.
Investigators said they believe they have enough evidence to put Saucer away for a very long time because the entire incident was captured on surveillance video at the restaurant.
Saucer was booked into the Duval County Jail and ordered held on $50,000 bond.