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Child Sex Defendant Flees Trial

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By THOMAS W. KRAUSE

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 10, 2008

TAMPA - A man accused of offering a woman money so he could have sex with her two young children cut off his electronic ankle bracelet Sunday and disappeared, his attorney said.

Kareem Abdul Hack, 21, was supposed to go to trial Monday.

Hack's attorney, Daniel Fernandez, said he expected prosecutors to offer a plea deal Monday that may have headed off a trial. The deal would have included some time in prison and probation, less than the maximum punishment of life, Fernandez said.

Fernandez said a bailiff told him Monday morning that Hack had disappeared. Fernandez then checked his phone messages and found a frantic voicemail from Hack's father saying Hack had removed his electronic monitor and couldn't be found Sunday.

Hack removed the ankle monitor at 11:22 p.m. Sunday, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office said. This set off an alert at the sheriff's office. Deputies went to the home and spoke to Hack's father, who said he did not know his son had fled.

The deputies had to remove the doorknob to Hack's room, where they found the monitor and a cell phone supplied as part of the monitoring program.

In court Monday, Fernandez told a judge he wants off the case and will file paperwork to withdraw as Hack's attorney.

Hack was arrested in September 2006 after he and a woman traded text messages. The woman told police Hack asked about her 2- and 3-year-old children, discussed having sex with them and offered her money. She called police.
Tampa Police Department Detective Mark Sutkoff said at the time that the text messaging between Hack and the mother was "mind-boggling." Hack was very descriptive as he tried to negotiate sexual acts with her son and daughter, Sutkoff said.

Hack is charged with two counts of soliciting sexual battery on a person younger than 12, two counts of attempted sexual battery on a person younger than 12 and two counts of procuring a person younger than 18 for prostitution.
Judge Walter Heinrich allowed Hack pretrial release on his own recognizance, provided he wear the ankle monitor and remain at his parents' Brandon home. He was allowed release, in part, because he never met the children.

As detectives arranged the meeting between Hack and the children's mother, the children were safe in a police substation. Fernandez argued to Heinrich that the allegations against Hack were "extremely disturbing" but did not warrant the sexual battery charges.

Fernandez said he was shocked that Hack apparently fled. The case had been scheduled for trial a half-dozen times, and Hack always showed up on time, he said.

Assistant State Attorney Rita Peters said Hack now could face more charges.

No one answered a reporter's knock on the door at the Brandon home Monday.

It is much more likely for suspects to skip town while out on bail than for them to cut off electronic ankle bracelets, said Lt. Tammy Otto, who heads the sheriff's office pretrial electronic monitoring program.

Since January, she said, 195 people have been put on the electronic monitors, which use a GPS satellite. Sixteen people cut off their ankle bracelets and fled. Of those, all but three have been recaptured, Otto said.

The bracelets are made of black rubber. They can be cut easily with scissors, which is how sheriff's personnel remove them from users, Otto said. When cut, the bracelets immediately alert sheriff's officials.

Anyone with information may call the sheriff's office at (813) 247-8200 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-873-8477.

News Channel 8 reporter Yolanda Fernandez contributed to this report. Reporter Thomas W. Krause can be reached at tkrause@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7698.

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