Post by Jocyln on Sept 27, 2006 18:53:39 GMT -5
Did anyone see this?
A convicted sex offender wanted nearly 3,000 miles away has been arrested in Gaston County, where one neighbor says the man tried to lure his daughters.
According to authorities, Danny Boyd took off from Oregon six years ago without finishing his sentence. Now he's in the Gaston County Jail under $5 million bond.
For years the man who strongly resembles Santa Claus played his guitar at the 321 Flea Market for spending money.
But Cpl. David Person of the Gaston County Sheriff's Office says despite appearances, Boyd is not someone to be trusted with children. He said the information he got from investigators in Ontario, Ore., paints a frightening picture.
"He was a violent offender, and the case was in their words 'very severe'," Person said.
There Boyd was convicted of a sex offense against a child under 12 years old and began his prison sentence in 1996. He got out four years later to start serving probation, but fled, authorities said.
Police found him Tuesday living in a shack near Dallas.
Coley McKinney works in a shop near the shack. He says Boyd tried to get his two young girls to come to his home.
"Had puppies trying to lure them down to try and pet the pups, and I had to tell my daughters they needed to stay away from him," McKinney said.
He didn't know then that Boyd was a convicted sex offender.
No one knew, said Boyd's friend Jerry Davenport.
"He seemed like a normal person to me," he said.
The secret came out when Person and other Gaston County sheriff's investigators went to the shack after Oregon officials got a tip that Boyd was there.
"I asked him if he knew why we were there, and he said, 'Yes, I sure do,'" Person said.
The parole board in Oregon plans to extradite Boyd. They need to get a governor's warrant within 90 days to do that.
Oregon investigators said Boyd may have to serve the remaining 12 years of his prison sentence.
Article at wsoc www.wsoctv.com/news/9949091/detail.html
