Staff Report

HAWTHORNE, Fla. – A 21-year-old named Austen William Cassels is facing charges in connection with two incidences of sexual battery involving a juvenile victim.

The first alleged incident took place when Cassels himself was a minor. Despite this, he is now being charged as an adult. Although these events occurred several years ago, the allegations only came to light last year.

During an interview with the Child Protection Team, the victim detailed two instances of sexual battery that she claims happened while she was in elementary school. As a result, Cassels faces charges of sexual battery with the offender being under 18 and the victim under 12. After being read his Miranda rights, Cassels reportedly claimed he could not recall one of the incidents and outright denied the other.

The second incident allegedly occurred a few years after the first, by which time Cassels was an adult and the victim was in middle school. In this case, the victim provided a text message where Cassels allegedly offered to do a favor and give her money in exchange for sexual acts. This exchange reportedly happened months after an incident where Cassels is accused of molesting her.

For the second case, Cassels faces charges of lewd and lascivious molestation of a victim under 16, as well as using an electronic device to solicit a minor. After his Miranda rights were read, Cassels reportedly claimed he couldn’t recall any sexual communication with the victim but conceded that he may have “said some things to her” while intoxicated. He denied any sexual battery against the victim.

Cassels has at least nine felony convictions (non-violent) and has served two state prison sentences, one of which was for a 2022 case in which he was convicted of burglary and seven counts of firearm theft. After the investigations for the sexual battery cases were complete, warrants for his arrest were issued, but he has been in state prison since April 2024 on a Baker County case. He was released from prison on December 1 and immediately arrested and booked into the Alachua County Jail.

The Baker County arrest violated Cassels’ probation in the 2022 case, so he is also being held for violating probation. Judge James Colaw ordered him held without bail until trial on the sexual battery cases.

Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.