Registered sex predator accused of assault

STUART, FL — A registered sexual predator lured a man to a hotel room and sexually assaulted him Sunday, according to a Stuart Police Department report.

Steven Nelson Curl, 58, of the 900 block of Southeast Federal Highway, Stuart, was charged Tuesday with sexual battery and false imprisonment. He was being held at the Martin County Jail without bond.

Curl was convicted in 1996 in Palm Beach County of lewd and lascivious indecent assault on a child under 16, according to state prison records. He served three years and 10 months for the crime, the records state.

Sunday’s incident happened at the Howard Johnson in the 900 block of Southeast Federal Highway, where Curl lived and worked as a front-desk clerk, hotel general manager Michael Smith said.

“He has been an exemplary employee,” said Smith, who knew Curl for 10 years. “He had previously worked for me at other hotels with no real problem.”

The man in Sunday’s assault told police he had been kicked out of a halfway house last weekend and ran into Curl at a gas station. Curl offered to let the man sleep at his hotel room, the arrest affidavit states.

“As part of his compensation, Steven had a room at the hotel,” Smith said.

The man told detectives after a night of drinking, he lay down on the floor of Curl’s hotel room. That’s when Curl pulled down his guest’s underwear and sexually assaulted him at 1 a.m. Sunday, the affidavit states. The man fled the room but did not report the crime to police until Tuesday.

Smith said Curl was terminated after he was taken into custody.

“Previously, my wife and I befriended Steve while he was located in Okeechobee,” Smith said. “We knew of his background but believe that everybody deserves redemption. We are shocked by the allegations as we have never seen him do anything of a violent nature.”

Reported by: Lamaur Stancil/Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers