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26 people arrested for failing to register as sex offenders

Convicted sex offenders and predators are required by state law to register their residence, phone number, driver's license and vehicle information.
Credit: Polk County Sheriff's Office
The Polk County Sheriff’s Office arrested 26 people accused of failing to register as sex offenders during a three-day operation.

The Polk County Sheriff’s Office arrested 26 people accused of failing to register as sex offenders during a three-day operation.

Detectives started “Operation: Karma” on Monday to investigate whether convicted sex offenders and predators were properly registering with the sheriff’s office.

Convicted sex offenders and predators are required by Florida law to register and update things like their name, social security number, age, tattoos, hair color, eye color, legal residence, email address, phone numbers, internet identifiers, driver’s license information and vehicle information.

“There are too many who are not complying with the law,” said Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd. “The big question I have is, ‘why are these people not reporting these cars or their online identities?’ They are apparently up to no good and we are going to hold them accountable.”

The sheriff’s office arrested Titus Finley, Mario Smith, Anthony Turpin, Heather Goodman, Craig Osborne, Charles McClain, Gregory Goutremont, John McBride, Emilio Flores, Demetric Givens, Shepard Tinsley, Michael Gonzales, Terry Bradshaw Jr., Michael Brown, Joshua Smith, Ruben Perez, Bobby Masters, Jose Mena, Cory Cook, Adian Torres, Douglas Robbins, Ventrell Martin, Frederick Hardy, Brice Wells, Toby Davis and Rene Garza.

Go to sheriff’s office’s website for more information on the specifics of each person’s arrest.

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