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Sex offender is arrested for violation of probation

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.

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