PANAMA CITY — Authorities conducting surprise contacts with registered sex offenders in Bay County have arrested 43 people suspected of violating terms of their convictions, and even came across a group they have charged with operating a meth lab.
Officers with federal, state and local law enforcement agencies conducted impromptu face-to-face visits with about 380 registered sex offenders from Sept. 15 to Sept. 18 as part of Operation Safe Child. Of those contacted, authorities found 43 were in violation of sex offender restrictions and arrested them on charges ranging from failure to register an email address to possession of narcotics, officials announced Monday.
“They are required to follow strict guidelines by the court,” said Sheriff Frank McKeithen. “Once they are a designated sex offender, they become limited to where they can live and what they can do.”
(Search the FDLE sexual predator database)
During one contact, warrant officers removed a bubbling one-liter soda bottle — fearing it would explode — from an Indiana Avenue home in Lynn Haven where Eric Elkins, 32; Ashley Gainey, 22; and Latesha Marie Reed, 33, had been staying. Deputies also found a backpack with all the materials used to make meth, including straws, syringes and “meth boats,” officers reported.
The bottle tested positive for methamphetamine, and the group members were charged with meth manufacturing.
BCSO regularly conducts contacts with registered sex offenders within the county — more often than state law requires, McKeithen said. And with the advent of social media, authorities also check the sex offender’s online activity.
Just like a physical address, sex offenders are required to register virtual addresses. Four of those arrested failed to report email or instant messenger activity.
“Some of them don’t do that, and this is something we have to stay on,” McKeithen said, noting some sex offenders use social media to engage in restricted activities.
Several individuals with outstanding warrants were apprehended and some had an extensive history of violations.
Norman Rushton, 80, was originally arrested in 2012 in Bay County during an Internet crimes against children operation. Rushton was charged with traveling to meet a minor for sex and use of the Internet to lure a child before fleeing Bay County for Costa Rica. Before his departure, he was located and arrested in a hotel in Niceville. Rushton later cut off his GPS monitor and again fled Bay County. He was tracked down and arrested for the third time by the task force in Weaverville, California without incident last Monday.
BCSO, the U.S. Marshal’s Office, the Panama City Police Department, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Department of Corrections, Parole and Probation, the Office of Inspector General and the Washington County Sheriff’s Office assisted in the contacts.
Operation Safe Child 2014 arrest list:
Norman Rushton, age 80, apprehended in California
CHARGES: Use of a Computer to Solicit or Lure a Child
Albert Schwendeman, age 42, Cahoun County
CHARGES: Sexual Battery on a Child Under 16 Lewd and Lascivious Assault
Raymond George Blum, age 48, of 5425 Berthe Nelson Road, Panama City.
CHARGES: Sex Offender Violation: Failure to Register as Required
Brett Corley Clark, age 32, of 3831 Biltmore Drive, Panama City
CHARGES: Sex Offender Violation: Failure to Register as Required
William Alexander Eckman, age 30, 2713 Nelson, Panama City.
CHARGES: Sex Offender Violation: Failure to Report Email Address Instant Msg
Keith Warren McCoy, age 51, 3301 E. 2nd Court, Panama City.
CHARGES: Sex Offender Violation: Failure to Register as Required
Johnathan Carey Bailey, age 36.
CHARGES: Sex Offender Violation: Failure to Register as Required
Christopher Shawn Forehand, age 41.
CHARGES: Sex Offender Violation: Failure to Register as Required
Robby Wayne Strickland, age 35, of 2431 Anne Avenue, Panama City Beach.
CHARGES: Sex Offender Violation: Failure to register as Required and VOP: Lewd and Lascivious
Brian Earl Nelms, age 42, of 5664 E. Hwy. 98, Panama City Beach.
CHARGES: FFJ: Sex Abuse on Child Less Than 16 (Mobile County, Ala.) and Larceny-Theft
Steven Joseph Colunio, age 34, of 7105 Collins Apt. D, Panama City.
CHARGES: Sex Offender Registration
Bobby Wesley Dean Bicknell, age 32, transient.
CHARGES: Sex Offender Violation: Failure to Register as Required
Joseph Daniel Baer, Jr., age 40, of 611 W. 11th Street, Panama City.
CHARGES: Sex Offender Violation: Failure to register as Required
Louis Randolph Merricks, age 49, of 710 E. 15th Street, Panama City
CHARGES: VOP Sex Offender Violation: Failure to Register as Required and Sex Offender Violation: Failure to Register as Required.
Mark Allan Phillips, age 43, of 1905 Alabama Avenue, Panama City.
CHARGES: VOP Sex Offender Violation: Failure to Register as Required
Darrell Jerome Davidson, age 34, of 319 Kraft Avenue, Panama City.
CHARGES: VOP Sex Offender Violation: Failure to Register as Required
John Thomas Templeton, age 48, of 2100 Pentland Road, Lynn Haven.
CHARGES: VOP Sex Offender Violation: Failure to Report Email Address Instant Msg
Daniel James Jorgensen, age 30.
CHARGES: Sex Offender Violation: Failure to Register as Required
James William Batton, age 44, of 1221 1st Street, Panama City.
CHARGES: Sex Offender Registration
Codey Monroe (CODY) Tucker, age 21, of 5734 Shannon Circle, Bayou George.
CHARGES: Possession of Child Pornography
Matthew James Tucker, age 26, of 5734 Shannon Circle, Bayou George.
CHARGES: VOP Possession of Child Pornography
Gregory Steven Allyn Carver, age 21, of 8020 Betty Louise Road, Panama City.
CHARGES: Sexual Offender Violation: Failure to Report Email Address Instant Msg and VOP Use of Computer Online to Solicit Sex Act from a Minor, Travel to Meet
Matthew Shaun Parker, age 39, of 910 Harrison Avenue, Panama City.
CHARGES: VOP Sex Offender Failure to Comply
Steven Andrew Lyons, age 21, of 321 13th Street, Panama City.
CHARGES: VOP Agg Battery w/ Weapon and Failure to Register as Required
Richard William Wynn, age 34.
CHARGES: Sex Offender Violation: Failure to Register as Required(x2) and Child Support,
Richard Martin Thome, Jr., age 41, of 8320 Freese, Panama City.
CHARGES: Failure to Register as Sexual Offender and Sex Offender Registration
Phillip Larry Bass, age 33, of 9307 Resota Beach Road, Southport.
CHARGES: Narcotic Equipment, Possession and or Use. VOCC: Grand Theft, and Sex Offender Violation: Failure to Register as Required
Christopher Wayne Hall, age 39, of 7119 Lawrence Road, Panama City.
CHARGES: VOP: Lewd and Lascivious Molestation
Janice Marie Brown, age 53, of 351 College Avenue, Apt A, Panama City.
CHARGES: Sex Offender Violation and Providing False Information to LE About a Sex Offender
Ricky Lamar Frazier, age 47, of 351 College Avenue, Apt. A, Panama City.
CHARGES: Sex Offender Violation and Harbor ATT Harbor Asst Harboring Sex Offender
Chadwick Cleao Six, Age 47, of 1008 W. 12th Court, Panama City.
CHARGES: Domestic Batt, Obstructing Justice, and Violation of Pretrial Release—GT
Richard Martin Blackburn, age 49, of 121434 Highway 231, Youngstown.
CHARGES: Sex Offender Violation: Failure to Comply and VOP-Lewd and Lascivious
Sean Allen Hayes, age 42, of 9157 Sunshine drive, Youngstown.
CHARGES: VOP Sex Offender Violation: Failure to Register as Required and Sex Offender Violation: Failure to Register as Required
Ronald Rudy Vincent, age 61, of 6242 Blue Gill Drive, Panama City.
CHARGES: Sex Offender Violation: Failure to Report Email Instant Msg
Eric Allen Elkins, age 32, of 3120 Minnesota Avenue, Panama City.
CHARGES: Trafficking in Meth, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, Manufacture Meth, and Recommit: Poss of Meth
Ashley Kyra Gainey, age 22, of 7100 Noel Road, Panama City.
CHARGES: Manufacture of Meth, Trafficking in Meth, and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia
Latesha Marie Reed, age 33, of 3900 W. 25th Street, Panama City.
CHARGES: Manufacture of Meth, Trafficking in Meth, and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia
Edward Punay Sotengo, age 54, of 1705 Cincinatti Avenue, Panama City.
CHARGES: Sex Offender Violation: Failure to Register as Required and VOP Failure to Register as a Sex Offender
Laterrance Vantagious Johnson, age 39, of 3307 Baldwin Road, Panama City.
CHARGES: Sex Offender Violation: Failure to Register as Required
Frankie Lynn Bullock, age 51, of 2709 East Avenue.
CHARGES: Sex Offender Violation: Failure to Register as Required
Bernard Perez, age 49, of 5505 Sun Harbor Road, Panama City.
CHARGES: Failure to Register as Required and VOP Failure to Register as Required
Richard Knox, age 59, of 4603 N. Hwy. 231, Panama City.
CHARGES: Possession of Drug Paraphernalia