Florida man arrested in Louisiana with missing Gulf Shores man's passport

Posted: Tuesday, April 12, 2016 7:45 am | Updated: 10:39 am, Wed Apr 13, 2016.

METAIRIE, La. – According to Jefferson Parish Jail records here a Milton, Fla., man was arrested after trying to use a missing Gulf Shores man’s passport to obtain a Louisiana driver’s license.

Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s deputies said Michael Paul Rodgers, 36, tried to use 62-year-old James Bradley Gunther's documents and Florida authorities said he rented a hotel room using one of Gunther’s credit cards.

Gunther left Gulf Shores on April 3 in a 48-foot sailboat, the Reliant, headed for Port St. Joe, Fla. Family members notified the Coast Guard on April 5 that Gunther had not been heard from in two days.

After the Coast Guard searched more than 1,100 miles of ocean his boat was later found at anchor near Fort McRee, Fla., between Perdido Key and Pensacola. The small dinghy normally on the sailboat was missing and has not been found.

Rodgers is being held under $30,500 bond on charges of identity theft, two counts of resisting arrest and fraud. He has been in the Jefferson Parish Jail since his arrest on April 9.

No sign of Gunther has been found and the FBI and Escambia County, Fla., authorities are investigating the case.

According to the Florida Department of Corrections, Rodgers is a convicted sex offender who served eight years in prison after a 1998 conviction of attempted sexual battery. His most recent address as of December was 6312 Fagen Lane in Milton, Fla.

On Feb. 2 1997 in Escambia County, Fla., Rodgers was arrested on three charges; burglary, armed robbery and attempted sexual battery with a weapon or by force, according to Florida Department of Corrections records.