Lake County prosecutors are moving to put a Leesburg man on death row after a grand jury handed down a 47-count indictment accusing him of repeatedly sexually abusing a child under 12.
The indictment charges 41-year-old Schubert Navarroza Macarat with multiple counts of capital sexual assault and possession of child pornography. Prosecutors say the alleged victim secretly recorded some of the abuse and that investigators have since recovered a large cache of digital evidence. Macarat is being held at the Lake County Detention Facility without bond as the case works its way through the courts.
Charges and evidence
As reported by ClickOrlando, investigators say searches turned up a four-terabyte external hard drive with roughly 3,000 videos, about 700 of which have so far been confirmed as child sexual abuse material. State Attorney Bill Gladson told reporters the child used her cellphone to document some of the assaults because she knew that she would need it as evidence, and prosecutors say items the victim described were recovered during searches. According to prosecutors, the scope and graphic nature of the material played a major role in the decision to pursue the harshest penalty available.
Documents filed May 26 show a grand jury returned a 47-count indictment that includes 12 counts of sexual battery on a person under 12, seven counts of sexual battery by a person in familial or custodial authority, and multiple counts of possession of child pornography, according to WESH. The station reports Macarat has pleaded not guilty and that investigators allege the abuse took place over several years. A criminal-defense attorney quoted by WESH said the sheer complexity of the case could help explain the gap between the March arrest and the later indictment.
How investigators say the case unfolded
Local reporting and arrest records indicate deputies first responded in March after a coworker told dispatch they knew of a juvenile who was being abused, according to Leesburg-News. That outlet reports the latest alleged incident was dated Jan. 29 and that two videos placed in the child's bedroom appeared to capture instances of the abuse. The arrest report cited by Leesburg-News says a deputy asked Macarat what he would say if officers had video evidence. He allegedly replied, "I would say I made a mistake."
Legal context
In 2023, Florida's Legislature created a capital-sexual-battery statute that makes sexual battery of a child under 12 a capital felony and sets out a separate sentencing process. The offense appears in state law at Section 794.011, with sentencing procedures in Section 921.1425. The change has already produced high-profile filings in the Fifth Judicial Circuit and is expected to draw constitutional challenges, in part because the U.S. Supreme Court's 2008 decision in Kennedy v. Louisiana bars death sentences for non-homicide crimes, a development tracked by national observers such as the Death Penalty Information Center.
What's next
ClickOrlando reports the Fifth Judicial Circuit State Attorney's Office has filed formal notice that it intends to seek the death penalty in Macarat's case. WESH notes prosecutors generally have 45 days after arraignment to submit such a notice and that, based on the filings here, they likely would have had until June 4 to do so.
Macarat remains held on a no-bond status and is scheduled to return to court next month, officials say. The case is still under active investigation, and any push for capital punishment is expected to trigger significant legal challenges that could drive the matter into the appellate courts. Upcoming hearings and additional filings should clarify which specific counts the state plans to present at trial and whether this becomes an early test of Florida's capital-sexual-battery law.
