TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

DNA Now Focus In Rape Cases

ADVERTISEMENT

By VALERIE KALFRIN, The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 25, 2007

TAMPA - Investigators could add more charges this week against a man they think is a serial rapist responsible for six sexual attacks since 2003.

Jerrod Pass, 38, of Clewiston, was being held without bail Monday, charged with two counts of felony sexual battery and one count of felony armed burglary. The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office arrested him Friday after the Florida Department of Law Enforcement crime lab matched a DNA sample taken from Pass to one from a June 14 attack at 15th Street and 127th Avenue.

That attack is one of five rapes and one rape attempt that DNA previously linked to the same unknown suspect. Test results are pending to determine whether an Aug. 19 rape with similar characteristics to the others is connected to the same man, the sheriff's office said.

Meanwhile, investigators from the sheriff's office and Tampa police are working with the crime lab to compare swabs identified as Pass' DNA against the unknown attacker's before filing additional charges.

'Now that we have a suspect in custody, we have to go back separately and make a match,' sheriff's office spokeswoman Debbie Carter said Monday.

'We should have answers this week,' police spokeswoman Andrea Davis said.

Investigators said the attacks have occurred about two miles west of the University of South Florida, east of Nebraska Avenue between Bearss and 93rd avenues. The rapist targeted mostly adult women, ages 24 to 37, who were at home late at night or early in the morning. He entered through a window while his victims slept.

Pass has a criminal record in Florida, but none of his previous arrests was serious enough for authorities to obtain a DNA sample from him, records show.

Since 1990, anyone convicted of sexual battery, lewdness or indecent exposure has had to submit blood specimens to the FDLE for a state and national database called the Combined DNA Index System, or CODIS, according to FDLE and state statutes.

The statutes have been amended to the point that since July 1, 2005, anyone convicted of a felony in Florida must submit blood specimens for the database.

Since 2000, Pass has been charged with misdemeanors in Hillsborough County such as soliciting another to commit prostitution, 'keeping a house of ill fame' and failing to appear in court, court records show. In Clewiston, a city of about 6,500 residents on Lake Okeechobee in Hendry County, he has been arrested on misdemeanor charges of loitering and giving a false name to a law enforcement officer, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

His relatives couldn't be reached Monday.

Pass' arrest on sexual battery charges came after two deputies on patrol encountered him on Aug. 28 while he was walking on 14th Street, near Lexington Avenue, at 3 a.m., the sheriff's office said. He matched the description of the rape suspect, and he was questioned by a detective who took a cheek swab.

Pass told detectives he'd been staying with friends. His arrest report shows he most recently worked as a cook at Wild Wing Cafe, 9210 Anderson Road.

Reporter Valerie Kalfrin can be reached at (813) 259-7800 or vkalfrin@tampatrib.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT