Crime & Safety

Dad Catches 'Half Naked' Man Fleeing Home

Sarasota deputies say the man is a registered sex offender.

A 19-year-old Sarasota County man is jailed without bond after deputies say a girl’s father returned home Wednesday night to find him ā€œfleeing over the family’s fence half naked.ā€

The incident unfolded around 8 p.m. when the father of a 15-year-old girl came home to the strange sight. A ā€œtall, large build, white maleā€ wearing a white T-shirt was jumping over his back fence, a probable cause affidavit stated. The dad chased the man down, the report stated, and questioned him about the incident.

When the man told the father his daughter had invited him in, the dad returned home to question her. Once inside, he found his daughter wearing only a towel, the report stated.

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That’s when dad called in deputies.

Investigators say the girl readily told them she and the man had been in a ā€œsecretive relationshipā€ for more than a year. And, while they had only engaged in foreplay Wednesday night, she told them they had intercourse many times in the past, the report said. The girl even pulled out her cellphone and showed deputies photos and text messages related to Wednesday’s escapade, the report said.

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One text message in particular caught investigator’s attention.

ā€œDelete my number … hurry … deleted the pics,ā€ it read.

When deputies caught up with the suspect, they learned the reason behind the urgency. It seems the man the father saw jumping the fence is a convicted sex offender.

Jonathan Ranew of 612 Guild Drive was arrested shortly thereafter at his home. Ranew was convicted in 2014 on a count of lewd or lascivious molestation of a victim 12-16 years old by an offender 18 or older, the sheriff’s office noted. He was sentenced to three years’ probation.

Ranew faces the same charge as before in Wednesday night’s incident. Courtesy of a violation of probation charge, however, he’s now being held in the Sarasota County Jail without bond.

Booking photo courtesy of the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office

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