Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office arrested and charged a manager at Tyrone Square mall’s Pops 2 Go for repeatedly sexually battering a girl over a 15-month period. Homol faces charges of sex with another minor girl as well.
The man, Steven Homol, 35, engaged in illegal sexual acts with a 16-year-old girl at Pops 2 Go, retailer of Funko collectibles, since December 2018 when she was 13.
Homol and the victim worked together and he would force the victim into a bathroom, sexually batter her, and threaten physical violence against the victim if she told anyone.
The victim told detectives it began when she was 13 years old and it happened on multiple occasions.
Detectives say the victim continued a sexual relationship with Homol out of fear that he would hurt her. In addition to the physical threats, the victim said Homol would give her money or gifts so she would not tell anyone about the abuse.
Homol was arrested Friday on a different charge of unlawful sexual activity with a minor.
On Saturday morning, detectives interviewed him at the Pinellas County Jail where they say he admitted to the sexual battery.
Homol, of Largo, faces a charge of sexual battery through coercion by threats of violence in the sheriff’s case. In the St. Petersburg police case, he faces charges of unlawful sexual activity with a minor, unlawful use of a two-way communication device and certain uses of computer services prohibited — a charge levied when authorities have evidence that someone used a computer to solicit a child for a sexual act.
He was being held in the county jail on Saturday in lieu of $200,000 bail.
Anyone who may have been a victim or who has information on this case is asked to contact Detective Curtin at (727) 582-6200 or by email at [email protected].
He will be out of prison in 2103.