NewsPalm Beach CountyRegion S Palm Beach CountyDelray Beach

Actions

Notorious Delray Beach man arrested again

Posted
and last updated

A man convicted of rape is back in police custody. The registered sex offender is well known in Delray Beach, where he was arrested again Thursday. 

Records show Oscar Rowell, 59, has been arrested at least 31 times. 

He is notorious in Delray Beach.

“During the recent hurricane, when everyone was out of power, my mother was concerned about sleeping with the windows open knowing he was roaming around the neighborhood,” said Anne Margo Cannon. Her mom lives near NW 11th and MLK Drive.

Cannon says the Delray Beach Police Department told her and her mom to be on the lookout for Rowell.

“We do encounter him doing a lot of things that are troubling,” said DBPD Spokeswoman Dani Moschella. 

Records show Rowell's rap sheet dates back to the 1970s, he’s been convicted of battery, burglary and armed robbery. He served time in prison for tying up an elderly woman, before sexually assaulting her in 2008.

He’s spent a third of his life in prison. 

“If he has a past and served his time in prison and got out and he was not re-offending that’s one thing. But again and again, we see him doing things, like today, that he should not be doing,” Moschella said. 

Thursday, police say, they caught him at the beach, near volleyball courts, after complaints of indecent exposure

“I am very glad he has been arrested. This man needs to be off the streets,” Cannon said. 

Rowell is expected to make his first appearance in court Friday morning where he is expected to face two charges related to the incident at the beach.