SEX OFFENDER CAUGHT SKIPPING REGISTRY RULES AT MCGHEE-TYSON
On Wednesday (July 2nd) morning at McGhee-Tyson Airport our DTF Deputy Director Brendan Deboer, along with assistance from a federal agent and the airport police, took into custody an adult male resident of Meigs County who is originally from California and is a registered sex offender out of California. The offender’s conviction evidently stems from an indecent exposure: 3rd or subsequent conviction out of California according to the Tennessee Sex Offender Registry. The offender moved to Meigs County approximately three years ago and has been reporting to the Meigs County Sheriff’s Office on an annual basis because of his sex offender status. As part of the sex offender rules, an offender must report any pending out of country travel at least 21 days before exiting the country and must be approved for foreign travel.
In this instance the offender did not report a planned trip to Belize. There are monitoring networks that exist that cross reference registered sex offenders with booked travel itineraries. The US Marshals evidently received a ‘tip’ on this offender’s planned travel and reported this to the Meigs County Sheriff’s Office. Our office began working with Detective Kevin Eschette and confirmed that the offender had not reported his travel plans to Belize, therefore the trip was not approved.
Therefore, we had Director Deboer arrive at McGhee-Tyson Airport early Tuesday morning to monitor the situation up until the offender was at the gate in line to board the plan with his female companion and another couple. Director Deboer, in plain clothes along with a plain-clothes federal agent discreetly pulled the offender out of line to briefly confirm his identity and lead him through a separate door to the tarmac where airport police took him into custody. The other three travel companions apparently continued with their flight and travel plans.
The offender was briefly held at the Blount County Jail where Meigs County Sheriff’s Office picked him up for transport back to the Meigs County Jail and further questioning. A violation of this nature of the state sex offender registry carries a mandatory minimum 90 days in jail. It is possible that there may be a federal prosecution of this offender in parallel with the state prosecution.
We are putting this information out to the public to make them aware of some of these aspects of the sex offender registry and that these individuals are being monitored and that there are consequences for violations. The link to the Tennessee Sex
Offender Registry which is maintained by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is here: https://sor.tbi.tn.gov/search
