Fraud Suspect Who Befriended Palo Alto Homeowner Arrested, Also Wanted in Oklahoma Sex Crime Case

A man wanted in connection with a sex crime in Oklahoma has been arrested in Palo Alto, after police say he committed check fraud and then ran away, hiding out for a while in an older man's home, chatting him up and even having a meal with him.

Dominique Arnett Tabb of San Francisco was booked into the Santa Clara County Main Jail Monday night on charges of felony check fraud and misdemeanor resisting arrest. He was also booked on his outstanding warrant from Oklahoma stemming from a sex crime with a minor charge.

Palo Alto Police Sgt. Brian Philip said Tabb was finally discovered about 9:30 p.m.,- after a 4 1/2-hour search for him.

About 5 p.m., police received a call that there was something suspicious going on at the Bank of America at 530 Lytton Ave. Bank employees described what Tabb looked like, before he allegedly ran out of the bank and hopped a fence in the 300 block of Cowper Street, Philip said in a statement.

Officers searched for him yard to yard. Canine teams began sniffing for his trail.

Turns out, Philip said, that Tabb had "befriended" a man in his 60s who lived in the neighborhood. Tabb had told the man that he had been "jumped" and that people were out looking for him, Philip said. The homeowner invited Tabb in, and he offered him something to eat, police said.

At some point, Tabb convinced the homeowner to give him a ride to San Francisco or the train station so he could get home.

As the two were leaving the older man's home, Phillip said that a patrol officer spotted Tabb walking out of the home in the 500 block of Everett Court.

Tabb took off again.

But he was arrested when he ran into the "waiting arms of a nearby officer," Philip said.

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