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Sex offender accused of abusing teen boy, arrested

A neighbor says 12- and 13-year-old boys would visit him on the weekends. She became worried when she learned he was a registered sex offender.

By SHANNON TAN
Published September 19, 2005

DUNEDIN - A sex offender was arrested Saturday on charges of sexually abusing a 13-year-old boy.

Brian Eugene Anderson, 52, of 2233 Curlew Ave. Apt. A, remained in jail Sunday in lieu of $120,000 bail. He faces six felony counts of lewd and lascivious battery.

Pinellas County Sheriff's deputies say Anderson sexually battered the boy from December to Sept. 11, when he spent the night at Anderson's home. In one incident, Anderson promised the boy he would take him on a canoe trip the following morning, arrest reports show.

Anderson was called in for an interview at the sheriff's administration building Saturday and was subsequently arrested, said sheriff's spokesman Mac McMullen.

Deputies are also investigating whether Anderson sexually battered anyone else, McMullen said.

"He's had different occupations and abilities to make contact with other children," McMullen said. He said Anderson volunteered at a church, but McMullen did not identify the church.

Deputies began investigating Anderson in October 2004 after a neighbor found out from the FDLE Web site that Anderson was a registered sex offender. Anderson was spending a lot of time with the 13-year-old boy, the neighbor reported. Deputies interviewed Anderson, the boy and his mother, but they were told that no inappropriate behavior had taken place.

In May, the Sheriff's Office got a separate complaint that Anderson had been stalking a 17-year-old teenager and was in the company of young boys, including the 13-year-old it had previously interviewed.

Detectives determined that Anderson sexually battered the boy, who lived in Anderson's neighborhood in Dunedin, the Sheriff's Office said. The boy and his mother now live in Palm Harbor.

A neighbor, Jane Kurthy, 49, said Anderson befriended the 13-year-old, who apparently was being homeschooled, and gave him an expensive watch. She said the two went on fishing trips, and Anderson even wanted to build a skateboarding ramp for him.

She said Anderson taught piano lessons from his home and was a director of the Palm Harbor Community Chorus.

"He seemed so nice," she said of Anderson.

Shelly Crowley, another neighbor, said she moved into the triplex where Anderson lives several months ago. She said 12- and 13-year-old boys would visit Anderson on the weekends.

When she found out that Anderson was a registered sex offender, she told her 15-year-old son to stay away from him.

"I want to move," said Crowley, 50. "I don't want to be here anymore."

In 1990, Anderson was sentenced to seven years in prison and 10 years probation for one count of sexual battery and two counts of handling and fondling children. Anderson was music director of the Presbyterian Church at Palm Harbor when he met one of the victims, a 12-year-old boy who was in the church choir, court records showed.

Anderson told a judge he was on the road to recovery, a St. Petersburg Times story said.

--Sheriff's deputies were called to Anderson's apartment Sunday to investigate a possible burglary. A woman who identified herself as Anderson's sister said his apartment was burglarized Saturday night after his arrest.

[Last modified September 19, 2005, 01:08:18]