JACKSONVILLE, Fla., July 8 -- A man who disappeared during his 1983 trial for sexual battery in Danbury, Conn., is awaiting extradition Saturday in the Duval County jail in Jacksonville, Fla., the Florida Times-Union reported. Reginald Joseph DePalma Jr., 54, had been living under an assumed name until his arrest this week.
FBI spokesman Ray Grenier said after his disappearance, DePalma was convicted in absentia and sentenced to 21 years in prison for sexually molesting three teenage girls who were Explorer scouts in the post for which he was scoutmaster. His then-girlfriend, Bonnie Gavagan, who advised the troop, testified they had taken the girls to the apartment they shared and confirmed the victims' testimony of sexual battery. She served five years on her guilty plea to impairing the morals of a minor.
DePalma had been using the name Lawrence Matteo, who investigators believe was someone he knew while living in Tallahassee 15 years ago. Grenier said they think he stole Matteo's birth certificate without his knowledge and then used it to get a duplicate drivers license. He moved to Jacksonville about two years later.
Although DePalma got several speeding tickets using the false license, he paid them promptly so the real Matteo never got any notices.
He had been living in Jacksonville Beach for about 10 years with Karen Bray, with whom he had four children, while working as a house painter. Bray had no idea of his past and did not even know he was using an assumed name.
Even when he called her from jail to tell her he had been arrested, he did not explain why. "He just said goodbye," she said.
Police kept DePalma's house under surveillance for about a week after receiving a tip from someone who recognized a tattoo on DePalma's arm after he was featured on television's "America's Most Wanted." Police arrested him after his identity was confirmed. He has waived extradition and could be back in Connecticut within 10 days.
