Hunt for Parolee On the Lam Ends When Detectives Find Him Sipping Coffee at Valley Mall

Photo of Manuel Rodriguez (Courtesy of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department)

Detective Peter Rasic from the El Monte Police Department heard that parolee Manuel Rodriguez, who has twice been arrested for exposing himself at the park, was on the lam this morning, after the East Los Angeles Sheriff's Bureau sent out an alert.

Last they had heard, Rodriguez was in El Monte. So Rasic decided to tap into his detective instincts and try the mall. This comes to us via a press release from the sheriff's department:

It was approximately 2:40 PM on Friday, September 9, 2011, when detective Rasic's intuition told him to conduct a patrol check of a local shopping center. "I drove through the Valley Mall and saw a man sitting on a bench, who closely resembled the picture in the bulletin. I contacted him and the man admitted he was Manuel Rodriguez." Detective Rasic added that Rodriguez was still wearing the Global Positioning System Ankle Monitor at the time of his arrest, although the monitor battery was dead.

Deputies say Rodriguez is currently being transferred to the custody of the Sheriff's Department.