Local News
Convicted sex offender arrested for failure to register
By Patrick McCrelessPATRICKM@CULLMANTIMES.COM
Cullman County Sheriff’s deputies recently discovered an unregistered convicted sex offender had been living in Crane Hill for over a year while investigating a routine civil dispute.
Deputies arrested Philip Keith Davis, 50, of County Road 933 at his residence Thursday and charged him with failure to notify a change of address. Sgt. Matt Hogue of the Cullman County Sheriff’s Office said Davis had moved to the area from Mayes, Okla.
“He moved here and didn’t notify,” Hogue said. “He’s required by law to notify the sheriff of the county he’s moving to.”
Hogue said Davis was not living anywhere near a school or daycare center and that the sheriff’s office has not received any sex-related complaints concerning him.
Hogue said deputies were investigating the unrelated civil dispute at Davis’s residence on Tuesday when they received information he might be a sex offender.
According to sheriff’s reports, Davis was convicted in Oklahoma of the sexual battery of a person less than 16 years old.
“After receiving a copy of that conviction, we learned he had been living there for at least the past year,” Hogue said.
Hogue said that Davis had notified authorities in Oklahoma of his plans to move to Alabama. He added Oklahoma never contacted the sheriff’s office, noting that law enforcement agencies are not required to notify each other of sex offender address changes.
“That’s a problem,” Hogue said.
While communication is not always the best between agencies in different states, Hogue said local law enforcement communication is a different matter.
“We have a lot of local participation ... if a guy (sex offender) is moving from here to Jefferson County, we’ll call them up and say ‘Hey, he’s coming,’” Hogue said.
Davis was incarcerated at the Cullman County Detention Center but was soon released on a $5,000 bond.
Failure to notify a change of address is a Class C felony, punishable by as much as 10 years in prison.
There are currently 135 sex offenders registered with the Cullman County Sheriff’s Office. All the sex offenders can be viewed at the sheriff office’s web site at www.cullmansheriff.org.
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