A St. Petersburg man has been arrested on a capital sexual battery charge after a 12-year-old girl gave birth at a park in Pinellas Park, police said.
Pinellas Park police said in a news release that at about 10:30 p.m. on July 16, they were called to Helen Howarth Park, 6301 94th Ave. N, “where it was reported a child had been born.”
Police soon learned that a 12-year-old girl had given birth. Both the girl and the infant were taken to a hospital while police launched an investigation.
Detectives learned that the girl “was unaware of the pregnancy,” though she “divulged that she was the victim of multiple sexual battery and molestation incidents” over the last year, the news release states.
Police said they learned that the man who abused her was 61-year-old Delfin Back.
“As a result of the capital sexual battery, the 12-year-old juvenile became pregnant and gave birth to a child,” the news release states. “Both the 12-year-old and newborn baby are healthy and receiving care at a local hospital.”
Back was arrested at his home in St. Petersburg and booked at the Pinellas County Jail the following day. Records show he was being held without bail on two charges of sexual battery of a child under the age of 12.
Court records show that an assistant public defender has been appointed to represent him and that a not guilty plea has been entered on his behalf.