« April 15, 2005 | Main | April 20, 2005 »

April 18, 2005

13 sex offenders on run from law

April 15, 2005 [Osceola News Gazette] Posted with Permission
By Brian McBride News-Gazette Staff Writer

There are 13 convicted sexual offenders who last reported an Osceola County address currently on the run from probationary supervision, a Florida sexual offender registry showed.

Another 17 are no longer at their last reported address given to authorities.

With the tragic loss of a 9-year-old Homosassa girl, Jessica Marie Lundsford, who authorities said was assaulted and murdered by a registered sexual offender that wasn’t living at his listed address, some local law enforcement officials and residents want to boost efforts to safeguard youngsters.

“It shouldn’t take a tragedy to wake us up,” said Kissimmee Police Officer Ralph Herrera, department spokesman. “Parents should always be guarding their children.”

St. Cloud resident Debra Carter, a child abuse survivor, is leading the local charge to motivate other county residents to join her on the Jessica Lundsford Team.

Started by the Jessica’s father Mark, a Web site is currently in the works to solicit volunteers from around the nation to help the family and legal representatives research the laws and penalties concerning sexual offenders and predators in each state. Once the research is complete, the team hopes to draw up a petition to collect signatures and seek stronger laws from state and federal lawmakers.

“I’m trying to get the rest of the local residents to join,” Carter said. “The more people know, the more they get involved, the stronger it will be.”

There are currently 290 registered sexual offenders in Osceola County, according to a Florida Department of Law Enforcement sexual offender registry.

There are 13 sex offenders who are currently listed as having absconded from probation, meaning they have fled from the Florida Department of Corrections non-confined supervision or control. According to the FDLE’s registry, they are:

• Brian D. Westbrook, 21, convicted of sexual battery with injury. Westbrook last reported a St. Cloud address in March of this year. Westbrook is a black male, 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighed 135 pounds. He has black hair, brown eyes and a tattoo on his right arm that says “ethel.”

• David Allan Rupe, 46, convicted of sexual battery. He last reported a Kissimmee address in June of 2000. Rupe is a white male, 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighed 160 pounds. He has brown hair and brown eyes.

• Jesus Rapalo, 54, convicted of lewd or lascivious molestation of a child under 12. He last reported a Kissimmee address in November 2002. Rapalo is a Hispanic male, 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighed 170 pounds. He has brown hair and brown eyes.

• Ronald Price, 41, convicted of sexual battery on a victim under 12-years-old. He last reported a St. Cloud address in July of 2001. Price is a white male, 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighed 164 pounds. He has brown hair, brown eyes and has a tattoo of a skull with crossbones on his left arm.

• Juan C. Palacio, 52, convicted of sexual battery on a victim under 12 years old. He last reported a Kissimmee address in October 2003. Palacio is a Hispanic male, 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighed 128 pounds. He has brown hair and green eyes. He has tattoos on his left arm consisting of the phrase, “Lord is my Protector,” an anchor, a woman’s face and a Playboy bunny. Tattoos on his right arm included, “I Love Irma,” “Gracias A. Dios,” a warrior’s head, dagger and a tiger.

• Manuel Montoya, 90, was convicted of lewd and lascivious conduct on a child under 16. He last reported a Kissimmee address in March of 2001. Montoya is a Hispanic male, 5 feet 5 inches tall and weighed 150 pounds. He has gray hair, brown eyes and is missing his left hand.

• Cristian Armando Melendez, 26, was convicted of lewd and lascivious conduct on a child under 16. He last reported a Kissimmee address in June of 2003. Melendez is a Hispanic male, 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighed 185 pounds. He has black hair, hazel eyes and has tattoos on his right arm of Jesus Christ and a clown.

• Benjamin Chico Manguiat, 44, was convicted of lewd and lascivious conduct on a child under 16. He last reported an Osceola County address in July of 1999. Manguiat is a white male, 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighed 145 pounds. He has black hair and brown eyes.

• Steven Hassan Farahat, 19, was convicted of lewd or lascivious conduct on a victim under 16. He last reported a St. Cloud address in November of 2004. Farahat is a white male, 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighed 185 pounds. He has brown hair and brown eyes.

•Thomas Aquino Diaz Sr., 71, was convicted of lewd and lascivious conduct on a victim under 16 and sexual battery on a victim under 12. He last reported an Osceola County address in May of 1998. Diaz is a Hispanic male, 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighed 179 pounds. He has gray hair, brown eyes and has a burn scar on his left arm.

• John Henry Davis, 43, was convicted of lewd and lascivious conduct on a child under 16. He last reported a Kissimmee address in August of 2001. Davis is a black male, 5 feet 2 inches tall and weighed 162 pounds. He has brown hair and brown eyes.

• Eddie Cajigas, 24, was convicted of lewd and lascivious battery on a victim between 12 to 15. He last reported a Kissimmee address in June of 2004. Cajigas is a Hispanic male, 5 feet 11 inches tall and weighed 155 pounds. He has black hair and brown eyes He has a tattoo of a crab with his birth date, 7-18-80, on his right arm and a spade with a face on it on his left.

• Cecil Gary Boyette, 47, was convicted of sexual battery. He last reported a Kissimmee address in March of 2005. Boyette is a white male, 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighed 131 pounds. He has gray hair and green eyes. He has a surgical scar on his stomach. And he has a tattoo of “G.B.P.M.” on his left arm and a tattoo of “G.B.A.T.” on his right arm.

Once the offender or predator has absconded, the state corrections department has an absconders unit, which does nothing but look for the suspects, “24-7,” said state corrections spokesman Sterling Ivey.

A judge will also issue a warrant for their arrest. The warrant is then placed with the respective county sheriff’s office.

“Ultimately the Sheriff’s Office has the responsibility to carry out the warrant,” Ivey said.

There are 17 other sex offenders whose last known address was in Osceola County who have reportedly absconded from registration. They are no longer at the last reported address given to the Florida sexual offender registry. But while it may appear shady, law enforcement officials don’t have the authority to simply find and arrest them, authorities said.

“They do not commit a violation until they move to a new location and do not register,” said KPD’s Herrera.

U.S. Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite, R-Crystal River, has proposed the Jessica Lundsford Act, which would require more frequent checks on the whereabouts of sexual offenders, tell probation officers that an offender has a sex offense in his or her background and create a national registry of offenders, according to published reports. Offenders who are not where they’re supposed to be would be placed on electronic surveillance for the first offense and then sent to prison for life for a second offense, according to the proposed legislation.

John Couey, who confessed to killing Jessica, was illegally living in a home near the girl. She disappeared from her grandparents’ home on Feb. 24. She was found buried March 19 near the mobile home where Couey was staying.

“Sadly it’s the offenders and the predators who are on the run that we have to worry about,” Herrera said.

Herrera encouraged parents to access the FDLE registry.

They can access the site at www.fdle.state.fl.us and click in the sexual predators/offenders bar.

For more information contact the FDLE’s sexual offender/predator unit at 1-888-357-7332 between the hours of 8 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Posted by Nancy at 02:37 PM | Comments (0)