Break in several sexual battery cold cases leads to possible suspect, police say

LAKE MARY, Fla. - Three Central Florida law enforcement agencies have teamed up to announce a recent break in several sexual battery cold cases.

Orlando police detectives said they have linked a man to seven rape cases throughout Central Florida over a ten-year period.  Now, a search is on for the suspect accused of terrorizing area communities from 1988 through 1998.

"Leslie Renald Lagrotta, 61, was armed with a weapon as he committed most of these egregious offenses from three decades ago," read an Orlando Police Department news release sent to FOX 35 News.  "New technology, including forensic genetic genealogy, and the relentless investigative work from our detectives in the Special Victims Unit who collaborated with our partners at the Volusia Sheriff’s Office and Daytona Beach Police Department helped determine that Lagrotta is responsible for three sexual abuse cases reported in the City of Orlando from 1988 to 1989."

Detectives said they have also identified Lagrotta as the suspect in four additional rape incidents in Volusia County from 1992 through 1998.

Lagrotta was arrested in 2010 by the Daytona Beach Police Department and charged with resisting an officer with violence.  As part of that investigation, he was notified that he needed to submit a DNA sample into the system. 

"Subsequently, Lagrotta cleared his bank account and stopped any contact with his family members," the news release read.

Orlando Police Chief Rolón and Volusia Sheriff Mike Chitwood are expected to offer more details during a news conference scheduled for Thursday afternoon.

If anyone has heard from Lagrotta, or knows of his whereabouts, they are asked to reach out to the anonymous tip line, Crimeline at 1-800-423-TIPS (8477) or www.crimeline.org or to call our non-emergency line at 321-235-5300.

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