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Sex offender given 14-month prison sentence

Authorities say the man lied about his status to get an apartment and exposed himself to children.

By CHRIS TISCH
Published January 22, 2005

LARGO - A sex offender from Ohio who exposed himself to children at a Clearwater apartment complex last year has been sentenced to 14 months in prison.

Last fall, Keith A. Thompson, 41, was charged with lewd and lascivious exhibition and failing to register as a sex offender. He pleaded guilty to the charges Wednesday and was sentenced to just over 14 months in prison. He will get 132 days off that sentence for time he has served since his arrest.

Thompson was previously deemed a sexual offender in Ohio because of a child-sex abuse charge. He later moved to Nevada and was properly registered as a sex offender there. When he moved to Florida, Nevada officials alerted state authorities here he was coming.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement put Thompson on its Web site of sex offenders, but Thompson didn't tell them he applied to live at the Oakbrook Village apartment complex on Nursery Road in Clearwater.

Thompson lied on his application for an apartment, saying he had no previous felony convictions, apartment complex officials said.

The company hires a Dallas agency to check the backgrounds of all its potential residents. But the check didn't unearth the previous sex abuse case, which would have prevented Thompson from getting a unit at the complex, officials said.

In August, an 11-year-old boy told apartment managers he saw Thompson standing in his apartment naked and masturbating.

Apartment managers searched the FDLE Web site of sexual offenders and found Thompson on it.

Managers called police, then issued Thompson a notice to leave the apartment within seven days.

Detectives interviewed the boy, who said he had seen Thompson masturbating in his apartment several times, as had other children in the complex.

When confronted by police, Thompson admitted to masturbating while watching the children from his sliding-glass door, arrest reports state.

[Last modified January 22, 2005, 00:37:20]