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Manhunt continues for rape suspect

Staff photo by RICHARD MULLINS

Police spent hours this morning searching around the Hillsborough Avenue bridge for rape suspect Joseph Lee Frye.

By JOSH POLTILOVE | The Tampa Tribune
and RAY REYES | The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 2, 2009

Updated: 09/02/2009 09:34 pm

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Joseph Frye

TAMPA - The man accused of raping an elderly woman and triggering a massive manhunt is no stranger to Florida prisons – or to being released long before his sentences were slated to end.

Under today's laws, Joseph Lee Frye would still be doing hard time. But under court guidelines in effect when he forced his way into a home at gunpoint and raped a woman in 1985, he was released after serving only half of his 28-year sentence.

By 2004, he was back in prison after a judge sentenced him to 40 years for violating his probation in the 1985 rape.

Frye spent just five years behind bars, however. He was grandfathered in under the old sentencing guidelines, got credit for the 14 years he had served and also got five years off for good behavior, officials say.

On Aug. 1, Frye was a free man again.

Less than a month later, Tampa police say, he overpowered a woman in her 70s, raped her in the bedroom of her Seminole Heights home and fled with her gun, cash and jewelry.

Frye, considered armed and dangerous, has eluded capture.

More than 30 officers spent hours this morning searching for Frye under a bridge at Hillsborough Avenue – based on information from a potential witness and an officer who saw someone running when he arrived on scene. Officers left without definitive proof Frye, 49, had been there.

The manhunt continues throughout the city and a statewide alert has been issued for Frye, who is wanted on charges of armed sexual battery, robbery and burglary in Friday's attack.

"This is a very dangerous man who has absolute disregard for being caught," Tampa police spokeswoman Andrea Davis said.

Deni Blankenship of Seminole Heights said she saw police activity in the neighborhood Friday but didn't learn until recently what was going on. She's taking extra precautions with a possible rapist in her neighborhood.

"I don't think he should have been back out," Blankenship said. "He was a repeat offender anyway, so to me he wasn't rehabbed like they thought he was."

Frye has spent half his life in Florida prisons. His rap sheet includes arson, armed robbery and sexual battery convictions.

He has hatched escape plans at least twice. In 1983, his scheme to dig a tunnel under a Pasco County prison backfired because Frye and another inmate tunneled in the wrong direction, going toward the prison's main control room instead of a perimeter fence.

In July 1985, police say, Frye forced his way into a Tampa home at gunpoint and tied up a couple and their son. He sexually assaulted the woman and left her naked, court documents state.

Frye pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 28 years in prison followed by 10 years of probation.

In 2001 and again in 2008, the Florida Department of Children & Families determined Frye didn't meet the criteria for confinement under the state's Jimmy Ryce Act, documents show.

The Ryce act allows the state to transfer sex offenders deemed most likely to strike again to a civil commitment facility after their prison terms.

Investigators concluded Frye didn't have any mental abnormalities, defects or personality disorders, DCF spokeswoman Judi Spann said.

Police say they also considered Frye a suspect in a rape investigation in July 2002, although no charges were filed. A police report said there was no physical evidence and that the victim didn't want Frye prosecuted.

According to court documents, Frye told the woman he had buried money in woods off Howard Avenue before going to prison in 1985. She said she reluctantly followed him to the woods because he offered her a third of the money in exchange for help digging.

But Frye told the woman he had lied about the money and that he wanted to have sex with her, police say. The woman said Frye slapped her and raped her before telling her to slap him across the face to make things even.

Frye told investigators he had a sexual relationship with the woman, a report states, and that he slapped her after she told him she was HIV positive – a claim she later denied to investigators.

On the same day as that incident, Frye was cited for having an open container of beer – a violation of his probation in the 1985 rape. He was sentenced to 40 years in prison.

Since 1995, the state has required prisoners to serve at least 85 percent of their sentences.

"Lawmakers have done away with the revolving doors" in the state prison system, Assistant State Attorney Pam Bondi said.

But because Frye's underlying rape conviction occurred before the law changed, he didn't have to face the prospect of spending more decades behind bars, Bondi said.

"You have to go by the date of the original offense," she said.

"That is unfortunately one of the flaws in the system," said Erica Dicus, a victim's advocate for the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay.

News Channel 8 reporter Krista Klaus contributed to this report. Reporter Josh Poltilove can be reached at (813) 259-7691. Reporter Ray Reyes can be reached at (813) 259-7920.

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