Staff Writer

A man arrested for the rape of a 14-year-old is out on bond.

Thomas Colonial Harrison, who was most recently living in Troy, has a criminal history dating back to the early 1980s and added two more charges to his record over the weekend.

Harrison, whose ages vary between 44 to 51, was arrested in Walker County after the Pike County Sheriff’s Department gained information he was working there. He was taken into custody by the Walker County Sheriff’s Department, transported back to Pike County and was released on $40,000 bond Saturday.

"We investigated him on rape, second degree, of a 14-year-old," said Pike County Sheriff Russell Thomas.

During that investigation involving the Sheriff’s Department and Department of Human Resources, it was discovered Harrison had not registered as a sex offender and was subsequently charged with that, as well.

Looking through Harrison’s record, Thomas said, the man had been arrested for a variety of crimes, including driving under the influence, carrying a concealed weapon, fraud and violation of a protection order, in addition to sexual offenses.

Through the years, Harrison has gone by 34 known aliases, has 11 different dates of birth and seven different Social Security numbers.

It’s also known he has been arrested in 11 states ­ Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Texas. However, after being transported to the Pike County Jail, he told investigators he had been arrested in 40 states.

Thomas said Harrison calls himself a "self-employed contractor" and works with asphalt, such as driveways.

Also, over the weekend, the Pike County Sheriff’s Department recovered $250 worth of shingles taken from a construction site at Lily White Church on County Road 59.

The 18 bundles of shingles were reportedly taken sometime Thursday night and were recovered Friday, Thomas said.

"The carpenter on the job was extremely glad to get the shingles back because it took him six months to locate that particular kind of shingle," Thomas said.

Charges in the theft are pending.