A convicted sex offender who spent about two weeks on the loose after cutting off his ankle bracelet and fleeing a Minneapolis halfway house has been captured in Illinois.
Belleville police found 34-year-old Rico Ronondo Rodriguez's car at an apartment building in Illinois and arrested him without incident, according to the Minnesota Department of Corrections.
He is being held at the St. Clair County jail in Illinois.
He is registered as a Level 3 sex offender, a listing used for offenders most likely to reoffend. He was released from prison in August and was living at the Minneapolis halfway house when he bolted Oct. 26.
In 2003, Rodriguez was sentenced for sexually assaulting a girl. In 2012, he was again imprisoned for failing to register as a sex offender.
BEATRICE DUPUY
