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Call ends in Texas man's arrest

A Largo mother's phone call leads to a molestation suspect in Brooksville.

By JOSE CARDENAS
Published January 31, 2006

When Largo police went looking Friday night for a 39-year-old man wanted in a child exploitation case in Texas, the suspect was nowhere to be found.

But they staked out the house where the man was reported to be staying with his mother, and by Saturday night they had convinced her to make the call that landed him in a Hernando County jail.

Ronnie Lynn Cummings, 39, had been under investigation by the Waxahachie Police Department in Texas since early December for possible sexual molestation and exploitation of a child, according to the agency.

He fled that state after an arrest warrant was issued, officials said.

Texas investigators found out that Cummings had gotten a Florida identification card with a Largo address, said Largo Officer Paula Crosby. On Friday, Texas detectives asked Largo officers to go to the Chapparal apartments at 601 Rosary Road.

The officers watched the apartment, but Cummings never came home that night.

The next day, Largo officers were able to get Cummings' mother to call him at another house in Hernando County, Crosby said. The officers traced the call to a house in Brooksville.

Largo officers alerted Hernando County sheriff's deputies, who arrested Cummings around 9 p.m. at 22410 Skyview Circle, said sheriff's spokeswoman, Donna Black.

He was being held at the county jail without bail.

Lt. Cyndy Wiser of the Waxahachie Police Department did not field questions about the case Monday.

The Texas investigation is continuing as detectives try to determine whether there are multiple victims or if the Internet played a role.

[Last modified January 31, 2006, 00:30:20]