During four days on the run, he was described by police as armed and dangerous. But Michael Dellaria, suspected of sexually assaulting two women in a group home in Ross, put up no fuss when a police officer in a small New York town found him sleeping in a car.

Mr. Dellaria gave the officer his real name, and a quick check on a national crime database showed he was a wanted man.

"He looked pretty beat," said Chief John Bentley of the police department in Lakewood, N.Y., a small community near Jamestown. "He didn't have any fight left in him."

Mr. Dellaria, 53, of Findlay, was apprehended Tuesday, waived extradition to Pennsylvania and was arraigned yesterday morning in Night Court on numerous charges.

Ross detectives who processed the car he was driving found a serrated kitchen knife believed to have been used in the assault Friday about 4 a.m.

Police said Mr. Dellaria used a brick and his foot to break down the front door of a group home for mentally retarded people in the 900 block of Grandview Avenue.

Mr. Dellaria threatened the on-duty counselor with a knife, Ross Detective William Barrett said. He then tied her up with a rope he brought with him and sexually assaulted her before moving on to one of the four residents.

Police believe Mr. Dellaria originally went to the home looking for drugs and money. He was familiar with the place, operated by an organization called Community Programs for Retarded Citizens, because his ex-girlfriend worked there until recently, police said.

Once inside, however, Detective Barrett said Mr. Dellaria likely could not control himself. Police described Mr. Dellaria as a convicted sex offender who spent a long time in prison for a series of crimes across several states.

"Sexual predators, which he is one, are just time bombs," Detective Barrett said.

Mr. Dellaria, who maintained a friendly relationship with his ex-wife in Franklin Park, borrowed her car.

By Tuesday, Mr. Dellaria had made it to New York. At 1:27 a.m., an officer on routine patrol in the parking lot of the Chautauqua Mall in Lakewood went to check on Mr. Dellaria, who was napping in the front seat.

Mr. Dellaria told police he had been drunk and was just sleeping off the alcohol, but a check with the National Crime Information Center showed the warrant out of Ross.

Mr. Dellaria was charged with robbery, burglary, simple assault, aggravated indecent assault, aggravated assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, terroristic threats and sexual assault.

He is being held on $100,000 straight bond and faces a Jan. 4 preliminary hearing before District Judge Richard Opiela.