U.S. marshals and the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office are searching for two convicted sex offenders wanted for failing to register with the state’s sex-offender registry.
Chief Deputy Greg Wright said Thursday afternoon that of the county’s 73 registered sex offenders, eight were flagged for noncompliance during a routine check. Of the eight, six have been apprehended, and two — Charlie Johnson and Jesse Steven Shelton — are still at large.
Johnson, 52, of 45 Parra Drive, Lot 7, was convicted in 1994 of rape and carnal knowledge of a child under the age of 14. Johnson is a black male, 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighs 200 pounds. According to the state sex-offender registry website, he has been known to use the aliases “Ball Johnson” and “Boss Johnson.”
Shelton, 41, with a last known address of 389 Mac Davis Road, was convicted in 1999 of attempted sodomy in the first degree. Shelton is a white male, 6 feet tall and weighs 155 pounds. He has brown hair and hazel eyes. According to the state sex-offender registry website, he has tattoos on both arms and a tattoo of a skull on his right shoulder. He has been known to use the alias “Jesse Stephen Shelton,” altering the spelling of his middle name.
Shelton is believed to have moved out of the state and may have failed to register his new address with the Department of Public Safety, Wright said.
The remaining six offenders have been arrested. They are Elbert Gunter, of 924 Sixth St. S.; George Henley, of 1125 6th St. N., Apt. 38; Earnest Taylor, address unknown; Jeremy Turner, of 630 N. McCrary Road; Bernard Jeffries, of 302 Austin Landen Road; Willie McDaniel, of 321 Main St., Gilmer Inn Room 307.
Wright said law enforcement agencies, including the sheriff’s office, make random routine checks on sex offenders.
“One that’s not compliant is too many, but when you’ve got 73, and eight are noncompliant … whether a person agrees with it or disagrees with it, it’s the law,” he said. “It’s not near as time-consuming or inconvenient as it used to be.”
Carmen K. Sisson is the former news editor at The Dispatch.
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