Sex offender is arrested for violation of probation
By wire services
Published January 31, 2004
BRANDON - A pet store owner with a history of sex offenses was arrested Thursday for violation of probation.
Gary Mark Hicks, owner of It's Alive Pets on State Road 60, remains in jail without bail pending a hearing, said Joe Papy, regional director of the Florida Department of Corrections.
Hicks, 33, was arrested after complaints that he offered an 18-year-old employee alcohol on two separate occasions and made suggestive remarks.
Hicks became a registered sexual predator with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement after a September 1999 conviction for sexual battery on a victim under 12. He also was convicted of other sex crimes. He was sentenced to 10 years of probation.
