LARGO, Fla. (WFLA) – Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office detectives are investigating after a county employee was found dead along the easement of McKay Creek on Monday.
Around 11:56 a.m., detectives were called to 134th Avenue North, between Adams Circle and 121st Street for a dead person.
According to detectives, Rafael Lorenzo Ufret Ortiz, 63, a senior spray technician, was conducting tests on the water for mosquito control along McKay Creek.
Ortiz was last seen heading to his assigned area around 7:30 a.mm.
A citizen notified a park ranger that a county truck appeared stuck on the easement and the front driver door was left open around 11:44 a.m.
The ranger and another employee found Ortiz face-down in the creek.
He was pronounced dead at the scene.
The cause of death is unknown at the time, but it does not appear suspicious in nature.
Ortiz was employed by Pinellas County Government since July 2002.
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