Authorities last week lost track of a convicted sex offender, the second such incident in a little more than a week.
The sex offender became known when another child victim came forward, claiming he sexually assaulted her, according to authorities.
The 43-year-old Baltimore County man, whose name is being withheld by The Examiner in order to protect the identity of his 15-year-old daughter whom he was convicted of raping in 2004, provided a false address to the Maryland Sex Offender Registry after his release from prison, court records said.
Baltimore City prosecutors accepted a plea agreement in the 2004 case in which the man was sentenced to 15 years in prison with all but two years suspended in connection with raping his daughter. The suspect was released in August 2005 after serving 10 months.
He was arrested last week in Baltimore City on a charge of molesting a 7-year-old girl.
The case appears similar to that of Melvin Jones Jr., another convicted sex offender charged with murdering 11-year-old Irvin Harris. Both suspects were lost by authorities tracking sex offenders. The suspect in the latest case eluded authorities for seven months.
“The system is extremely antiquated, that a sex offender can disappear in our community then harm a child is absolutely outrageous,” said David Miller, spokesman for the Urban Leadership Institute, a youth advocacy organization.
“As a husband and a father that works with children, we need a better system,” Miller said.
In the latest case, the man has now been charged with second- and fourth-degree sexual abuse of a 7-year-old girl in the victim?s bedroom on July 29. The man apparently was a guest at the victim?s house, charging records state.
The Maryland Department of Public Safety & Correctional Services issued a warrant in December 2005 for failing to provide an accurate address. However, executing the warrant proved difficult, department spokeswoman Karen Poe said.
“Serving warrants and apprehending fugitives can be time-consuming,” she said, noting that sex offenders often give false addresses.
