Ohio sex offender found in Arkansas

A fugitive Ohio sex offender was in the Baxter County jail Saturday night after being arrested in north Arkansas on Friday, officials said.

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Larry Thompson, 45, was being held in lieu of bond and was awaiting extradition back to Ohio, Baxter County Sheriff John Montgomery said. Thompson was picked up by deputies on a felony charge for failure to register as a sex offender in Ohio as well as a parole violation, Montgomery said.

Thompson had been living in Henderson, Montgomery said, and in addition to his Ohio charges, faces a charge for failing to register as a sex offender with Montgomery's office.

Montgomery said in a statement that Thompson was considered to be "an escape risk with violent tendencies."

Thompson's arrest was prompted by an anonymous tip Thursday to the Mountain Home Police Department that Thompson was living around Henderson, Montgomery said.

The tip said that Thompson was using the alias Jasper Stevens, was driving a white van with Ohio license plates and was thought to be living somewhere on Crystal Cove Road.

The information was relayed to deputies, who found Thompson's photo on a national database and searched the area. They found a man who appeared to be Thompson standing in a doorway at 736 Crystal Cove Road.

According to Montgomery, the man at first denied being Thompson, but he ultimately admitted that he was the man wanted in Ohio.

Before being prosecuted and convicted as a sex offender in Clarke County, Ohio, Thompson was a thief, according to court records from that state.

In August 2005, Thompson was charged with possession of criminal tools as well as breaking and entering. In February 2006, he pleaded guilty to possession of criminal tools and was sentenced to 30 days in jail, only to be arrested again that August for failure to appear in court.

In May 2009, Thompson was arrested and charged with theft. He was sentenced to 10 months in jail on that charge after a June 2009 guilty plea.

In October 2012, Thompson was charged with gross sexual imposition and intimidation of an attorney, victim or witness.

Two months later, Thompson, a resident of Springfield, Ohio, pleaded guilty to gross sexual imposition in an agreement with the county prosecutor to drop the intimidation charge, according to reports from the Springfield News Sun.

According to the news reports, Thompson walked into the room of a 21-year-old woman at a Springfield nursing home earlier that year and drew a curtain to conceal a view of the bed. The woman had cerebral palsy and other disabilities, the reports said, and was unable to thwart Thompson's advances when he kissed her and touched her.

The patient reported his actions to a nurse, the reports said, and another patient in the room identified Thompson as going into the room.

Thompson apologized to the court during sentencing but denied that the encounter happened, the paper reported.

Thompson was sentenced to 18 months in prison, the maximum in Ohio for that crime, and was classified as a Tier 1 sex offender.

Metro on 08/16/2015

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