Police arrest New Orleans sex offender
Authorities say the man, displaced by Katrina, was staying on Clearwater Beach.
By Times Staff Writer
Published November 23, 2005
CLEARWATER - A New Orleans sex offender who was displaced by Hurricane Katrina has been arrested on a charge that he failed to keep authorities in Louisiana informed of his current address, U.S. marshals said Tuesday.
Clearwater police arrested Troy Lazone Randolph, 40, about 2 a.m. Tuesday after receiving information on his whereabouts from the Tampa U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force.
Randolph had said he was staying with a sister, said Lisa Alfonso, a deputy U.S. marshal and public information officer for the agency.
But really, since October, Randolph had been staying at a Red Roof Inn on Clearwater Beach, with the Federal Emergency Management Agency footing his hotel bill, Alfonso said.
"He actually lied to authorities in Louisiana about where he was," Alfonso said. "In this case, the sex offender was supposed to register with truthful information about where he was staying, and he did not."
Randolph was one of four sex offenders from Louisiana arrested nationwide Tuesday, Alfonso said. He was on parole for a February 2002 conviction for being a felon in possession of a firearm and issuing worthless checks and was convicted of rape in February 2000, authorities said.
Since Hurricane Katrina, federal marshals have helped New Orleans police and Louisiana probation and parole officials track down about 1,300 registered sex offenders who lived in New Orleans and were scattered by the hurricane.
Marshals said arrest warrants have been issued for sex offenders who did not check in with their parole officers or who, like Randolph, did not give officials adequate or accurate information about where they were living.
Randolph was booked early Tuesday into the Pinellas County Jail, where he was being held without bail. In addition to the charges in Louisiana, he could be charged with failing to register as a sex offender in Florida, marshals said.