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Man Charged With Rape Escapes From Falkenburg Road Jail

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By JOSH POLTILOVE | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 27, 2008

Updated: 10/27/2008 10:08 pm

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• From The Scene

Raymond Marston

TAMPA - Deputies continued the search Monday night for an inmate who escaped from Falkenburg Road Jail as he was escorted to a medical clinic.

Raymond Marston, 50, ran from deputies about 9 p.m. Sunday, Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office spokesman J.D. Callaway said. Deputies searched inside and outside the jail using canines and helicopters.

"We're asking the public for their eyes and ears to help locate this individual," Callaway said. "If they see him, they should call 911."

Two sheriff's office employees have been suspended without pay because of the escape, sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter said.

Marston has been in jail since May 27 on charges including sexual battery, kidnapping, robbery and aggravated battery. He is a career criminal, according to Crime Stoppers of Tampa Bay, which is offering up to $1,000 for information leading to his arrest.

Deputies are unsure where Marston might be, and records show his address as "at large," Callaway said. When he left the jail, he was heading toward State Road 60.

Deputies are searching homeless camps and other areas Marston frequents, sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter said.

Marston has been accused of beating and raping a woman in Town 'N Country on May 26.

Deputy James Flagg and his supervisor, Lt. Michael Farrier, have been suspended pending an administrative review, Carter said. They were suspended at Sheriff David Gee's discretion.

Flagg, 60, has been a sheriff's office employee since April 2006. Farrier, 38, has been with the office since October 2004.

Marston's son, Raymond Marston III, said he learned watching the news today that his father had escaped. He said he has no idea why his father would do something like that. He said his father is an "all right" person and that he doesn't believe his father raped anyone.

Asked whether people should be concerned that his father is on the loose, he said, "I don't think anybody should be worried about it."

Raymond Marston was in a pod at Falkenburg Road Jail on Sunday when he went to a deputy and complained of chest pains, Carter said. Protocol is for someone to escort such a person to a medical clinic, so Flagg took Marston out of the pod and into a waiting area for an escort deputy to travel with Marston.

Flagg left to call and see where the escort deputy was, and when Flagg returned, Marston was gone.

It appears Marston went outside, up a drain spout, through razor wire, across a roof, into a construction area and out an open gate, Carter said.

"Without the new construction going on, the facility is secure," she said.

Deputies met with the construction company today to see how things can be made more secure, she said.

She said people should be concerned and pay attention for Marston.

The day after the attack in May, Detective Geoff Harris was continuing the investigation near the area where the incident took place and spotted a man on a bicycle matching the description of the Marston, investigators said.

The man, later identified as Marston, was arrested on a charge of trespassing at a convenience store on Hillsborough Avenue and Memorial Highway. On a hunch, Harris contacted the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and discovered that evidence taken from the victim matched Marston's DNA, the sheriff's office said. Marston's DNA had been entered into FDLE's database after he was arrested on a previous burglary charge.

Detectives added charges after the DNA results came back from FDLE's lab.

The 21-year-old woman was attacked as she walked home from work 9:50 p.m. May 26 along Sheldon Road.

A man who identified himself as the victim's father said Monday night that after his daughter learned of Marston's escape, she decided to stay with friends elsewhere in Tampa for safety.

"My daughter is very scared, very concerned," he said, adding he's "horrified" Marston is "running around in the back alleys and streets" of Tampa.

TBO.com is not naming the man because it could identify the rape victim.

According to a criminal arrest affidavit:

Marston put his arm around the victim's neck and punched her face eight or nine times, and when she fell, he held her head against a concrete walkway and told her that if she screamed, he would kill her.

He stole $13 from her purse, covered her face with his T-shirt and forced her underneath a bridge, where he sexually battered her.

The victim suffered facial fractures, a broken left hand, cuts and bruises, detectives said.

The man identifying himself as the victim's father said when he saw her at the hospital after the attack, her face was "so black and blue and so deformed I could not recognize my own daughter."

Marston later told investigators he was drinking alcohol near Sheldon Road and Hillsborough Avenue the afternoon of the attack but went to a friend's house and was back inside his tent by 8:30 p.m., according to a document from the state attorney's office.

"When questioned about his injuries to his right hand, his right wrist and his left arm, he stated that he had fallen off his bicycle," the document states. "He was unable to supply writer with a definite location of where this alleged incident had occurred and became agitated with writer's questioning."

During a formal interview with investigators, he said he was innocent and that "he would never have battered a woman that severe," according to the document.

The rape case is still pending.

The sheriff's office would not release a 911 call from the attack, saying the case remains active.

Marston is white, 6 feet tall and weighs 155 pounds. He has brown hair and eyes and a tattoo of a cross on his left and right arms. He also has a "Kandy" tattoo on his left arm.

His aliases include Richard Hamilton and Ray Dallas Cason.

Anyone with information should call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-873-8477.

News Channel 8 reporter Chip Osowski, TBO.com producer Daniela Velazquez and Tribune reporter Ray Reyes contributed to this report. Reporter Josh Poltilove can be reached at jpoltilove@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7691.

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