Cops Bust Haunted House Groper

NOVEMBER 1--A drunken Florida man allegedly went on a groping rampage this weekend, pawing three girls and roughing up two boys, all of whom were working as volunteer actors at a pair of storefront haunted houses.

The five victims are each members of the Tarpon Springs High School drama club and were working for tips at the haunted houses, according to an organizer.

James Carter, 50, went into the haunted houses Friday at about 10 PM and molested the teenage girls, according to Tarpon Springs Police Department reports. One victim, 15, was lying on a table when Carter kissed her and inserted his tongue in her mouth. He then allegedly “touched the victim’s genital area through the clothing she was wearing.”

Carter, who had arrived at the haunted houses with a small group but became separated from them, also allegedly asked a 16-year-old girl, “I’m not supposed to touch you, right?” He then put his hand on the girl’s shoulder and “touched her breast through her clothing. He then tried to press his face against the victim’s,” police reported.

A third girl, 16, was outside one haunted house “wearing a costume that had an opening along the side.” Carter, cops allege, “reached inside of the opening and touched the victim’s breast and genital through the clothing.”

Carter, pictured in the above Pinellas County Sheriff's Office mug shot, has also been charged with grabbing a 15-year-old boy’s head and shaking it for “approx five to seven seconds,” and striking another boy, 14, in the stomach.

The teenagers were working at two of three adjoining haunted houses that were constructed in empty commercial storefronts. The victims were volunteering in spaces designed to resemble a gory butcher shop and a nightclub.

The suspect was charged with four counts of child abuse and one count of lewd and lascivious behavior. He was released from the Pinellas County jail Saturday afternoon after posting $60,000 bond. When Carter was arrested, he told cops his name was Richard Shore Carter (hence the use of that name in arrest affidavits). The suspect’s true identity was subsequently determined by investigators. (5 pages)