BUNNELL, Fla. – Flagler County deputies following up after a 39-year-old sex offender was released on bond after his arrest on a stalking charge could not find him living at his registered address -- the woods behind the Walmart in Palm Coast.
On Monday, deputies looking for Andre Watkins visited his mother's home in Palm Coast, saying she told them he wasn't living there and that she had not seen him recently. When deputies did find Watkins, he claimed he was living at a home in the Seminole Woods address, but the people who lived there denied he lived there.
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When the Sheriff's Office returned to the mother's home, it was Watkins who answered the door. Deputies said he told hem he lied about living there because his mother operates a day care center out of the home and he didn't want her business to suffer.
Watkins was arrested and ordered held without bond and the Sheriff's Office asked the Florida Department of Children and Families to check on the licensing status of the at-home day care. News4Jax did not find a licensed child care provider at that address on the stat's database.
"Sex offender rules are not optional," Sheriff Rick Staly said. "Lying to us about your address is highly discouraged because we will find you and you will go back to jail."