'Pervert' Touched 16-Year-Old At Chick-Fil-A: Polk County Sheriff

LAKELAND, FL — A 57-year-old man was arrested Thursday for intentionally and repeatedly touching the buttocks of a 16-year-old girl at a Lakeland Chick-fil-A, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office said.

Awny Abdel Malek Basta of Lakeland was booked into Polk County Jail and charged with lewd and lascivious touch.

When deputies responded to the restaurant at 4625 South Florida Ave. just before 3 p.m., they found that Basta had run away from the scene. He was found near the Imperial Swan Hotel, which is less than a mile away from the Chick-fil-A.

The victim told investigators that she was seated at a table at the restaurant doing schoolwork when Basta sat down 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 said.

Basta ran from the Chick-fil-A after being confronted by the victim. Restaurant staff followed him and shared updates about his location with PCSO dispatchers. The suspect boarded a city bus that drove north on South Florida Avenue.

Restaurant employees flagged down the bus, which stopped, and the suspect was asked to get off it, the sheriff’s office said. Patrol deputies found Basta in a nearby parking lot and detained him.

Though he refused to speak with investigators, security video footage from the Chick-fil-A confirmed the victim’s accusations, the sheriff’s office said.

“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,” Sheriff Grady Judd said. “We want to make sure he’s held accountable for everything he has done.”

Anyone who thinks they might have been a victim of him is asked to contact the Special Victims Unit of the Polk County Sheriff’s Office at 863-298-6200.

Basta was incarcerated three times between 2006 and 2011 in Tennessee for sexual battery charges.

In 2015, Basta was arrested after he groped a woman at a Lakeland Panera restaurant and served 180 days in jail for battery. In 2023, he was arrested for groping a woman at a Starbucks in Lakeland, and charged with violation of probation and felony battery.

He was released from prison on Oct. 18.