SUMMIT COUNTY, Ohio (WJW) – A warning Thursday night that a convicted sex offender, who has a long-standing obsession with female real estate agents in Northeast Ohio, is once again on the prowl.

Longtime realtor Jana Chervenic says the one appointment she will never forget was with Robert Willett, a Summit County man who claimed that he wanted to see a vacant house in Akron.

Chervenic says two weeks earlier, she had received a text message containing a pornographic image from the same cell phone that Willett used to make the appointment.

“I felt this horrible, heavy, gross feeling and I actually said to myself when I hung up, ‘I think somebody wants to kill me.’ Now, that seems extreme but that’s what I thought in my head,” said Chervenic.

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Based on that feeling, Chervenic asked police to follow her to the appointment and was astonished by what they found when they confronted Willett.

“I heard the police yelling, ‘put your hands up, put your hands up!’ and apparently he was reaching in his pocket and sure enough in his pocket, he had a box cutter, duct tape and zip ties,” she said.

Chervenic says she often thinks about what might have happened if she had not followed her intuition.

Based on his behavior over the years, investigators have concluded that the now 67-year-old Willett, who also uses the names Bill Parks and Tim Ramsey, has a dangerous obsession with real estate agents.

“He went to jail based on what happened to me and another agent, he got out, he struck again, he went back to jail, he got out and he struck again,” she said.

Over the years, she heard from other agents who came face to face with Willett.

“‘Wow, six years ago I met that guy, five years ago I met that guy, and I felt so creeped out by him,’ and they said, ‘I was in the house with him and I said to myself, ‘I’ve got to get out of here,’” said Chervenic.

According to a new safety alert issued for real estate agents across Northeast Ohio, Willett is once again attending open houses.

“Robert Willett is 6’5″, 270 pounds and he has an artificial right leg, so he isn’t hard to miss,” said Mike Valerino, CEO of the Akron Cleveland Association of Realtors.

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In one recent case being investigated by police, a man approached an agent at an open house in Sagamore Hills and started asking questions that the agent found odd.

She called a friend, who contacted police, and that’s when the “client” quickly fled.

Investigators have not positively linked Willett to the incident, but realtors say it matches his M-O.

“I’m happy that she realized that and that she took action. I’m not surprised, that’s exactly what he does,” said Chervenic.

As a result of the latest incident, the Association of Realtors is reminding agents to make sure they do research on each person with whom they are scheduled to meet and urging all agents to follow the buddy system.

“Especially at this time, they should not be hosting open houses alone. They shouldn’t be going to show vacant property at night,” said Valerino. “They should really be paying attention to what’s going on around them.”

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