Inmate Found Dead in Pinellas Jail

Larry Kobielnik was convicted of sexual battery and falsely impersonating an officer on Wednesday.

On Thursday morning, he committed suicide in the Pinellas County Jail, according to officials.

Kobielnik, 38, was arrested last year in connection with a May case in which a woman from the Clearwater area said he approached her, representing himself as a law enforcement officer. She got into his car, but then tried to get out. When she did, Kobielnik put handcuffs on her and took her to his Dunedin home. Once there, the woman was sexually battered, but was able to escape when he fell asleep, deputies said.

Kobielnik’s sentencing hearing was scheduled for Thursday, the sheriff’s office said in an email to media.

Deputies discovered Kobielnik hanging in his single-person cell in the jail’s maximum security section during a routine check. They contacted medical staff and Pinellas County Fire Rescue. Kobielnik could not be revived was pronounced dead at 3:31 a.m. Thursday, the email said.

The death remains under investigation.