Alleged child molester arrested again
Published 4:54 pm Thursday, January 25, 2007
A repeat offender has been charged again with child molestation less than a week after being released on a related charge and deputies found two Louisiana sex offenders now living in Pearl River County who have failed to register with Mississippi authorities.
Tuesday, the Pearl River County Sheriff’s Department picked up Lonnie Mark Faulk, 44, of 202 S. Jackson Ave., Picayune, after they received a complaint about him on Monday. Deputies found Faulk at the residence of a convicted sex offender, according to a release from the department.
While attempting to locate Faulk at the residence of Danny E. Miller, 52, of 835 White Chapel Rd., Carriere, the investigators discovered that Miller was an unregistered sex offender. According to the release, Miller was convicted of oral sexual battery and aggravated incest in Louisiana in 1994.
The sheriff’s department has charged Miller with failure to register as a sex offender. Bond for Miller was set at $5,000 and he will be required to register with the nearest department of motor vehicles as a sex offender when he is released, the release states.
Tuesday Faulk was charged with sexual battery of a 14 year-old girl and denied bond, the release states, because Faulk was already out on a $40,000 bond for a previous charge of felony child molestation in Picayune. Faulk had bonded out of the Picayune jail last week on the charge that involved a separate incident from Tuesday’s charge. Apparently Faulk was staying with Miller after he posted bonded, said Investigator Krista Groom.
This is the third time charges have been brought against Faulk. In 2004 he was tried on charges of child molestation and sexual battery in Pearl River County Circuit Court. After two attempts on a conviction, the case was dropped. District Attorney Hal Kittrell said in a previous interview that after the second attempt at conviction, it was determined that it would be difficult to sustain burden of proof for a third trial.
Preliminary hearings for Faulk and Miller have been set for Feb. 20 at the Justice Court in Millard.
In an unrelated incident on the same day, deputies also turned up another unregistered sex offender in the county.
The release states that Jimmy Willis, 25, of 1801 U.S. 11 South, Lot 109, was charged with failure to register as a sex offender. According the release, Willis was convicted of felony carnal knowledge of a juvenile in Louisiana on July 17, 2000.
In October of 2006, when Willis was released, Pearl River County Investigators received information pertaining to a Mississippi address for Willis. Investigators. The sheriff’s office then contacted acquaintances of Willis at that address urging him to register immediately to avoid arrest, which he failed to do and a warrant was issued, the release states.
Willis had his bond hearing on Wednesday, and if he does not make bond his preliminary hearing also will be held on Feb. 20.