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Deputies: Serial Rapist Caught

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By MIKE WELLS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 23, 2007

Video: Press Conference | Neighbors Relieved | Map

TAMPA - A random encounter between two deputies and a man riding a bike at night without a light might have ended four years of unsolved rapes.

Jerrod Pass, 38, was named Saturday as the man charged in a June 14 rape on Tinsley Terrace Drive. Investigators said they are confident he will be charged in six other attacks in northeast Tampa dating back to 2003. On Sunday morning, a judge denied Pass bail.

A DNA test and old-fashioned police work of combing the streets led to his arrest. Now, the seven victims who lived in terror that their rapist was free and might return can rest easier, said Hillsborough County sheriff's Capt. J.R. Burton at a news conference Saturday.

It was 3 a.m. on Aug. 28 when Deputies Keith Edwards and Sam Bailey stopped Pass, who was riding a bicycle near 14th Street and Lexington Avenue.

They noticed he resembled the description of the serial rapist and called for the assistance of a sex crimes detective.

On Saturday, Detective Geoff Harris said he didn't notice anything about Pass that stuck out as a red flag.

Yes, he had scars from cuts or burns on his left arm. Yes, he was out wandering the streets in the same part of town and at the same time of night that the rapes occurred.

But so had several of the 50 men deputies had questioned in recent months, Harris and Burton said. At least five other men they talked to had similar scars on their arms. In all, detectives collected 10 DNA samples from people who fit the criteria of the attacker.

Since June 2006 a special unit of 15 deputies had saturated the area with patrols to address a robbery problem, Burton said. Three months ago, they also were given the task of questioning men who matched the description of the rapist.

Pass didn't act nervous, Harris said. He wasn't overly or suspiciously friendly. He didn't even have much of a criminal record; since 2000 he had been charged once for contempt of court, prowling and soliciting another to commit prostitution.

Pass was 'forthcoming' and offered no resistance to their questions, Harris said.

'We advised him that there had been some break-ins in the area,' the detective said. 'He signed the form giving us permission to take the DNA sample, essentially a waiver.'

Harris placed a swab into the man's mouth, wiped it between his cheek and gums, and placed it into evidence.

The sheriff's office had no reason to pinpoint Pass as its No. 1 suspect, so he was allowed to leave and was thanked for his cooperation, Harris said.

He Lived In Area Of Rapes

Between 2000 and 2006, Pass lived at the Oakwood Apartments, 14009 Coral Court, in Tampa, records show. The sprawling complex of masonry and turquoise duplexes is a block east of Nebraska Avenue and is bordered by railroad tracks.

It is also within the boundaries of the same neighborhoods where the rapes were reported - from Nebraska Avenue east toward Bruce B. Downs Boulevard and from Bearss Avenue south toward Fowler Avenue.

Burton said the attacker targeted young black mothers at home late at night or early in the morning, entering through an unlocked window or door while his victims slept.

The victims had small children living at home, Burton said. The rapist would threaten to return and kill the children if the women contacted authorities.

Because the attacks happened in the dark, the descriptions were limited. Victims said he was a black male with a dark complexion and a distinctive scar or mark on his left arm near his wrist. The rapist usually took his shoes off when entering the homes, and detectives think that's what the victims smelled when they talked about the man's foul odor.

Pass, who is black, has a dark complexion and a burnlike scar on his left forearm. Detectives told Burton that when he was brought in for questioning and arrested, he was 'smelly.'

DNA Matches

At 3 p.m. Friday, detectives finally got a break.

DNA technician Mary Pecheco of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement serology lab matched DNA evidence from the June 14 case to the sample Pass submitted.

Burton said DNA evidence collected from the June 14 rape matches evidence found in the other rapes.

The next step for investigators will be for the evidence in those other cases to be individually tested against Pass' DNA sample.

Authorities expect testing will confirm they match, he said.

With an arrest warrant in hand, deputies visited the restaurant where Pass worked, Wild Wing Cafe at 9210 Anderson Road, and asked staff where they might look for Pass, Burton said.

Deputies found him walking near 15th Street and Fletcher Avenue at 10:15 p.m. Friday, a little more than seven hours after the DNA test results were phoned in.

'Very, Very Respectable'

Owners of Wild Wing Cafe were stunned about the news of their top prep cook.

'He was always here on time, a hard worker always trying to think of ways to make it better,' co-owner Sharon Ross said.

'He was very, very respectable, very responsible. We are shocked.'

Her son Matt, a co-owner who is president and general manager of the business, said he hired Pass when the restaurant opened in March.

They had no idea something was amiss until sheriff's deputies arrived at the restaurant looking for Pass after he had already left for the day and picked up his check, Sharon Ross said.

She and her son described Pass as clean-cut and well-groomed, nothing like the smelly intruder breaking into women's homes.

'We can hardly believe it,' she said.

Burton said Pass told detectives he had been staying with friends lately, moving from place to place. Records show he lived in Hendry County before moving to Tampa in the early 1990s.

Tenants questioned Saturday at Tampa's Oakwood Apartments said they weren't living there when Pass was.

E-Mail Alert, And Relief

Although none of the attacks occurred at USF, university police issued an e-mail alert to students this month. It advised them to be cautious in light of the rapes, the most recent of which happened Aug. 19, investigators say.

Residents in the low-income area where the rapes occurred expressed relief upon receiving news of the arrest.

Zelma Williams, 29, said she leaves her apartment only when driving to and from her cashier's job at a drugstore.

'I pretty much don't go outside unless I'm going to work,' she said. 'And I call to let someone know I'm on my way home so they make sure I arrive safely.'

Chelsea Stevens, 23, a clerk at the Wooden Nickel costume and novelty shop near where Pass was arrested, said his picture looked familiar and that he may have shopped there from time to time.

'I'm glad about the arrest because I live around here,' said Stevens, a student at The Art Institute of Tampa. 'The last time I heard anything about him, my mom saw it on the news and said, 'You need to make sure you lock your doors.''

The rapes took place between 2 and 6 a.m., so authorities now think that when they first encountered Pass on Aug. 28 at 3 a.m., he was possibly looking to attack another victim that night, Burton said.

'It was his witching hour,' he said.

Reporters George Wilkens and Carlos Moncada contributed to this report. Reporter Mike Wells can be reached at (813) 259-7839 or mwells@tampatrib.com.

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