A 38-year-old Gulf Breeze man is facing numerous sexual abuse charges after his alleged victims came forward.
Harold Mitchell Merchant was arrested last week and charged with 15 felonies following an investigation, according to his arrest report from the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office.
The Sheriff’s Office began looking into the allegations in August 2011 after the juveniles came forward and accused him of physical and sexual battery between 1997 and 2011, the report stated.
The juveniles said the alleged abuse varied from him “regularly” pulling the curtain back on them when they showered to coming into their rooms when they were asleep and inappropriately touching them. He also exposed himself to them regularly, the report stated.
At least one of the juveniles said Merchant grabbed them by the throat and choked them. Merchant was also accused of hitting and kicking them. The juveniles didn’t ever seek medical treatment for the injuries but did lie to others about how they were sustained, the report stated.
Merchant is also accused of pushing one of them onto a bed so hard that the bed broke.
Once they had moved away, the alleged victims said Merchant sent them letters, seemingly to apologize. They provided those letters to law enforcement.
One of the letters said, “I have (realized) my problems and understand the resentment you have towards me. ... You left because you needed to. I understand.
“Please know I am sorry and I have changed. I feel God in my heart now and life is too short to go on this way.”
The juveniles said they didn’t report the alleged abuse sooner because they were afraid of Merchant.
When Merchant was brought in for an interview, he denied most of the accusations.
He did say, when asked, that “sometimes his anger has got the best of him” and confirmed he had struck them in the past.
Merchant said he didn’t sexually abuse the juveniles. He said he had massaged one of their backs for a period after a car accident, but always over clothing. He also said he walked in on one of them in the shower once but never again.
He denied ever exposing himself to them.
He was subsequently arrested and charged on Nov. 27 with five counts of lewd and lascivious behavior with a victim between the ages of 12 and 16, five counts of lascivious behavior with a victim between the ages of 12 and 16 when he was over 18 years old, and five counts of lascivious behavior by an offender older than 18 years old and a victim less than 16 years old.
He was released from the Santa Rosa County Jail on a $37,500 bond.
Contact Daily News Staff Writer Katie Tammen at 850-315-4440 or ktammen@nwfdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @KatieTnwfdn.