Sex offender knew of law loophole; state officials acknowledge

ST. LOUIS -- Long before he broke out, sex offender Thomas Ingrassia knew of a loophole that failed to make it illegal to escape from the state's Sexually Violent Predator Unit, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Friday.

Ingrassia told the newspaper in a telephone interview that he had researched the law using a few old statute books in a library at the mental health facility in Farmington prior to his 2001 escape.

"Missouri's so quick to make up laws without researching whether it's proper," Ingrassia said. "They're idiots."

Ingrassia, now 47, cut a fence to freedom, then ended up in Florida, lived under the assumed name of Dave Davis -- his half brother -- even got married. He was captured late last year after his wife became suspicious and began researching on the Internet, then contacted police.

Ingrassia refused to discuss how he escaped or if anyone helped him.

The loophole means Ingrassia could only be charged with felony property damage for cutting the fence. When the legislature enacted the civil commitment procedure in 1998, it neglected to change the escape law to include escape from a civil facility.

Officials acknowledge the oversight. The state attorney general's office is drafting legislation to close the loophole this session.

St. Francois County Sheriff Daniel Bullock can see the section of fence Ingrassia cut, now repaired, from his office door.

"If he hadn't tore the fence up when he got out, there'd be nothing to charge him with," Bullock said. "When one of my officers who works in the sex predator unit told us he couldn't be charged, we were just flabbergasted.

"I guess we're lucky he didn't assault someone, that we know of."

Like 15 other states, Missouri has a civil commitment procedure so sex offenders who complete their prison sentences can be held indefinitely in a mental hospital if they are considered mentally abnormal and likely to commit new sex crimes.

Ingrassia served 18 months for raping a woman motorist alongside Interstate 270 in 1975, then 17 years of a 25-year sentence for later sexual attacks on three women, in December 1977 and April and May 1978.

In 1999, two years after completing parole, Ingrassia was accused of stalking a woman in Lincoln County. That spurred Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon to pursue a civil commitment. A St. Louis County jury sent Ingrassia to the Sexual Predator Unit in April 2001. He escaped six months later.

A property damage conviction carries a penalty of up to four years in prison, but Ingrassia could serve up to seven years if prosecutors prove he is a persistent offender. After his prison term is up, authorities assume he would return to continue serving his civil commitment.