Hillsborough sheriff's spokesman says he gave out bad information in rape case

TAMPA -- A spokesman for the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office admitted today that he put out bad information in the case of the restaurant rapes.

The primary suspect in the case is Rigoberto Martinez, who was arrested in Hillsborough County on Aug. 5 and then freed on bail before abducting and raping two women in Apollo Beach on Aug. 16, authorities said.

By the time he was arrested in Hillsborough, police in St. Petersburg had identified him as a suspect in the rape at the Table restaurant there Aug. 3.

For five days -- as recently as about 5 p.m. Tuesday -- Hillsborough sheriff's officials maintained that St. Petersburg police had not told them Martinez was a rape suspect before his arrest in Hillsborough.

But spokesman J.D. Callaway said this morning that was incorrect.

"That was my ignorance. I did find out later that we had been notified by St. Petersburg police that Rigoberto Martinez was a suspect in a rape," Callaway said. "It was my bad."

Sheriff David Gee had also said Monday that his deputies didn't have that information.

"He misspoke," Callaway said. "We had miscommunication here in our office."

Cristina Silva and Tom Lake, Times staff writers