Sex Offender Arrested in Boca Raton for Sneaking Into Hotel Rooms

Jesse James Delano (Photo: Palm Beach County Jail)

A registered sex offender was arrested after allegedly breaking into hotel rooms and stealing items from a Boca Raton hotel, according to police.

Officers with the Boca Raton Police Department responded April 25 to the Hyatt Place hotel at 100 E. Palmetto Park Road following reports of a disturbance, according to a police report filed in court this week. Hotel management told dispatchers that a man dressed in black was entering rooms without permission and taking items. When officers arrived, they located a man matching that description near the building and detained him, police said.

Police said the man initially provided a false name after being detained, but later identified him as Jesse James Delano, 39, of Palm Beach Gardens, through fingerprint records. He was convicted of sexually assaulting a 22-year-old woman while she was asleep in 2017, and is currently facing separate charges in Palm Beach Gardens of failing to comply with sex offender registration laws.

According to investigators, a hotel employee reported that around midday, a man entered a guest room while it was being cleaned and refused to leave, remaining inside for about 20 minutes. The same individual was also accused of forcing open locked lobby doors and taking snacks from a hotel market area, with the value of the items estimated at about $25. Surveillance footage reviewed by officers allegedly showed a man forcing open glass doors on the west side of the building and later carrying chips and drinks past the front desk, according to the report.

Another hotel employee told police the man took multiple items from the snack bar and attempted to charge them to a room using false information before leaving the area.

Delano was charged with burglary of an occupied structure, retail theft and providing false information to a law enforcement officer, according to the report. He was taken to a local hospital for medical clearance before being transported to the Palm Beach County Jail, where he remained Wednesday in lieu of $58,000 for a total of seven criminal charges.