Pinellas County sheriff's deputies arrested a registered sexual offender after he was accused of inappropriately touching a 64-year-old woman, authorities said.
Jacques Fields is charged with one count of lewd and lascivious battery of elderly/disabled adult and one county of felony battery.
According to deputies, the victim was sitting in a chair outside her home in unincorporated St. Petersburg shortly after 6:00 a.m. Saturday.
The woman told deputies a man she did not know approached her and offered her money to have sex with him, the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office said. The woman said no and asked the man several times to leave. He refused and started moving closer to the her.
The woman went into her house to search for a gun to defend herself. When she went back outside to confront the stranger, the man forcefully grabbed her breasts, a Pinellas sheriff's report said.
The woman punched the man in the head and screamed for help. The man ran away.
The victim received minor injuries and declined medical treatment at the scene. The report did not say whether she had a weapon when she walked back outside.
Deputies responded and began a search of the neighborhood. They located th 34-year-old Fields walking a short distance from the victim's home. The Sheriff's Office reports Fields fit the description provided by the victim and gave conflicting information about his whereabouts.
Deputies arrested Fields and took him to the Pinellas County Jail for booking.
The victim later identified Fields as the suspect.
Fields was listed as a registered sexual offender resulting from a 2005 sexual battery conviction, deputies said.
