State inmate is charged in 1988 rape

Evidence gathered at the scene 12 years ago in Palm Harbor matches the DNA of a man serving 40 years for similar crimes.

By JANE MEINHARDT

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 1, 2000

For 12 years, a Palm Harbor rape case has gone unsolved.

Last year, evidence gathered at the scene was sent to a laboratory for DNA testing. On Wednesday, a Pasco County man serving a 40-year sentence for similar crimes was charged with sexual battery in the 1988 case.

Scott C. Franklin, also known as Scott Frankin, is being held at Pinellas County Jail after being transported from a state prison in Avon Park.

Franklin, 42, was sentenced to prison in April 1993 for rapes in the New Port Richey area. At the time of his sentencing, a prosecutor said, "That guy terrorized New Port Richey for a year."

He was convicted of assaulting three women after breaking into their apartments in 1989 and 1990. In a plea agreement, Franklin pleaded no contest to four counts of sexual battery, three counts of burglary/assault, two counts of kidnaping and one count of attempted sexual battery.

Now he is accused of raping a Palm Harbor woman after breaking into an apartment on May 1, 1988, according to Pinellas sheriff's Sgt. Greg Tita. The woman was 19 at the time.

She and her husband were asleep when a man broke into their apartment through a sliding glass door. The man forced her husband into a bathroom and locked him in.

"They could not see what he looked like because he had a flashlight that he kept shining in their eyes," Tita said. "He told them he was armed."

The intruder then raped the woman.

Detectives gathered evidence but never made an arrest. Meanwhile, Franklin went to prison.

Last June, Pinellas detectives sent semen recovered in the investigation to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement laboratory to develop a DNA profile. The profile was compared with those in the state's database, which includes DNA collected from inmates convicted of serious offenses such as sex crimes, murders and carjackings.

The laboratory analysis linked the evidence to Franklin.

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