TAVARES, Fla.—A convicted Volusia County sexual predator is back in Lake County to face similar crimes he’s accused of committing 20 years ago.
Stanley Puckett, now 63, was sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2014 after pleading no contest to several child sex crimes that involved multiple children as young as 9, some he molested for nearly a decade, according to Volusia County court records. Puckett was incarcerated at Madison Correctional Institution, near the Florida-Georgia border, nearly finished with serving his sentence for his Volusia crimes, when he was picked up on 2014 detainers from Lake and Marion counties. Puckett is accused of child sex crimes in both counties but it is unclear if those crimes involve the same victims; identities of sex crime victims are protected.
In 2012, a Department of Children and Families (DCF) investigator reported Puckett victimized a child for eight years to Port Orange Police Department beginning in 2004. In later interviews with the victim, she said Puckett would routinely give her and her friend alcohol and commit sex crimes against both of them, including forcing them to have sex with each other.
In another Volusia county case, he was again accused of plying his victims with alcohol so he could violate them. A victim said he poured Jagermeister and Captain Morgan in her mouth and forced her to drink it when she was just 14. He hid her phone, and after she went to sleep on a couch, she woke up to Puckett sexually battering her, she said in an interview.
In the Lake County case, one victim told a Lake County Sheriff’s Office detective Puckett would walk around naked, which he called “being open” and would give the girl alcohol. Another victim said in 2005 and 2006, Puckett would also give her alcohol, take her to a wooded area and force her to perform sex acts on him. Puckett moved to Uvalde, Texas after his mother informed him of the allegations against him, the victim said.
Puckett was eventually arrested, and in 2014 and pleaded no contest to his crimes.
In January, LCSO picked Puckett up and brought him back to Lake County to face charges of sexual battery and lewd or lascivious molestation. He waived his arraignment and pleaded not guilty.
Inside Lake reached out to the State Attorney’s Office to ask why it took so long for Puckett to face his charges in Lake and Marion counties.
“In cases where a defendant is incarcerated in another jurisdiction, it is common practice for another jurisdiction to place a hold (or detainer) on that inmate for crimes that occurred in their jurisdiction. [In the Puckett case] the original jurisdiction will typically send the receiving jurisdiction the inmate shortly before completion of their sentence so that they can face prosecution in the receiving jurisdiction (Lake in this instance,) Chief Assistant State Attorney Walter Forgie said in an email.
“There is a national database that allows law enforcement to notify any other law enforcement agency of a detainer. That is effectively how jails throughout the country communicate with one another and can efficiently arrange for transport of inmates, as necessary,” he said. “If a warrant is served while a defendant is in custody on a lengthy sentence in another jurisdiction, speedy trial issues can result which is why serving of warrant if often delayed after a detainer is placed on a defendant.”
Puckett is scheduled to be arraigned in Tuesday in Marion County. He is charged with sexual battery- victim under 12 in that case.
