Escaped Rapist Frequenting Gay Bars, Says Sheriff's Office; New Photos Released

The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office added a special bulletin to its Web site today about escaped child rapist Adrian Cruz, displaying more photos of Cruz in the hopes someone will spot him. Scroll down to see the new pictures. As you'll recall, Cruz was the guy who slipped past inattentive...

By Ray Stern

March 6, 2009

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The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office added a special bulletin to its Web site today about escaped child rapist Adrian Cruz, displaying more photos of Cruz in the hopes someone will spot him. Scroll down to see the new pictures.

As you'll recall, Cruz was the guy who slipped past inattentive deputies at the Superior Court last month while awaiting a hearing on sexual misconduct charges. At the time, he was already serving a life sentence in prison for having sex with -- and impregnating -- a 9-year-old.

Cruz, a former ice-cream truck driver, is believed to be "frequenting gay-friendly establishment and day-labor sites," the sheriff's Web site states. Here's what one sheriff's official told KTAR news (92.3 FM):

"Since he's been in custody with the department of corrections, he has somewhat changed his sexual orientation," said Deputy Doug Matteson with MCSO.

"It's not necessarily that he doesn't prefer one over the other - he wants to get his sexual appetite fed any way he can. So it doesn't matter whether he'll take women, men or young girls."

Here are the photos:

Officials ask that anyone who sees Cruz call Detective J. White at 602-876-1000.

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Ray Stern is the former news editor of Phoenix New Times. He worked as a newspaper reporter in Arizona for more than two decades. He's won numerous awards for his reporting, including the Arizona Press Club's Don Bolles Award for Investigative Journalism.