Tampa fugitive chews off fingerprints to avoid identification

TAMPA (FOX 13) - A "major player" in gun trafficking in Tampa has been arrested in Ohio and was positively identified despite chewing the skin off his fingers.

Tattoos were used to identify 24-year-old Kirk Kelly after he was pulled over for suspicious activity in Tallmadge, Ohio.

"Sometimes we will have people sand them, but we have never heard of anybody chewing their fingerprints off," said Tallmadge, Ohio police chief Ronald Williams. "It was three in the morning in a high drug area, and he was with three other people. I can't tell you what he was doing, but it probably wasn't a social call."

He is known by some in the Bay Area as "Crackaboy," and is wanted for allegedly trafficking stolen guns. Police say Kelly initially gave his younger brother's name. However, tattoos of "813," Tampa Bay Rays and "Port Tampa" gave him away.

"We have been looking for him, we think he is a major player here in Tampa in that regard," said Steve Hegarty of Tampa Police.

Kelly has a lengthy arrest record and has been wanted since September.

"He knows that he is facing some pretty serious jail time," said Hegarty. "I think he was pretty desperate."

TPD said Kelly was likely bouncing around the country on buses, trying to get as far away as possible.

"We run into people with warrants all the time," said Williams. "It is pretty unusual we find somebody from a thousand miles away."

Kelly will be extradited back to Florida, but it was unclear when extradition would happen.