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© St. Petersburg Times, published January 4, 2003
TARPON SPRINGS -- Police and the FBI Thursday night arrested a fugitive in a Michigan sex crimes case who had been living in Tarpon Springs under an assumed name.
Tommy Rodriguez-Irizzary, 34, was tracked to the Cypress Place Apartments after being on the run since August, Tarpon Springs police said. At one point, he was thought to be in Puerto Rico.
Rodriguez-Irizzary was wanted on warrants from Kent County, Mich., on three counts of unlawful sexual conduct and unlawful flight to avoid prosecution for sexual battery of a child.
The FBI contacted local police with information that Rodriguez-Irizzary, who was considered to be dangerous, was living in Tarpon Springs, police Sgt. Jeffrey Young said Friday.
Tarpon Springs detectives Robert Faugno and Khris Walguarnery charged Rodriguez-Irizzary with possession of heroin after finding a pipe with the drug on it in his pants pocket.
Police also charged him with identity theft and possession of a fraudulent Florida identification card and a fake driver's license. Arrest reports and public records show he was using the name and Social Security number of a Puerto Rican man named Miguel L. Claudio-Camacho. He was being held at the Pinellas County Jail Friday without bail.
Although Rodriguez-Irizzary was wanted on sex crime charges and lived in the same apartment complex where a man recently reached through a bedroom window at two teenage girls, Young said he does not appear to be a prowler police sought for nearly a month.
Early on the morning of Dec. 10, a teenage girl awoke to see a man reaching through her bedroom window at the Cypress Place Apartments. The next morning, a woman who lived at the Tarponwood Apartments on E Lime Street about a half-mile away awoke to find a stranger crouched beside her bed.
Police described the intruder as 23 to 24 years old, 5 feet 2 to 5 feet 3 and weighing about 140 pounds. He had a medium build, broad shoulders, black hair, brown eyes and is possibly of Hispanic descent. He was last seen wearing a black tank top, dark blue jeans and black tennis shoes.
Police say anyone who sees the man should call 911 or Tarpon Springs police dispatch at (727) 937-6151 and tell the operator where they last saw the man, what he was wearing and which direction he was going to help officers find him.
-- Researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.