An increasing number of sex offenders are being arrested for violation of F.S. 943.0435(9) – Failure to properly register as a sexual offender.
Yesterday, Benjamin Michael McGonigle became the latest in St. Johns County and this is not his first time.
According to the FDLE Sex Offender Registry website, McGonigle was convicted of a sexual offense in Illinois on 12/10/2003. He later moved to Florida and was arrested and convicted on 09/19/2005 for failure to properly register.
According to the records of the St. Johns County jail, 29 year old Benjamin Michael McGonigle was booked again yesterday for failure to properly register. His booking sheet shows that he was residing at 495 Pomont Avenue – although his address, according to FDLE, is supposed to be 351 Varella Avenue in St. Augustine.
You may recall that Sgt. Chuck Mulligan of the SJSO said last November that a convicted sexual offender “must register at a permanent address in his current state of residency or be subject to arrest” when referring to Artimus Pyle; the former Lynyrd Skynyrd drummer. Pyle was also arrested twice by the local Sheriff’s Office for failing to properly register.
As of this morning, McGonigle is being held in the St. Johns County jail pending $10,000.00 bond.
The public can access information about all sexual offenders and sexual predators in St. Johns County via the internet through the OffenderWatch database. You can also sign up to receive e-mail notifications when a sexual offender or predator moves within a mile of your address.