The U.S. Marshals Florida Regional Fugitive Task Force located and arrested a man in Lakeland on Wednesday after he failed to register as a sex offender.
Kenneth Dunaway, 52, was arrested at about 11:30 a.m. after being wanted for violating probation and failing to register as a sex offender in Georgia. He is also facing a federal charge of failing to register as a sex offender under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, according to a press release.
March 10, about four days after his release from jail in Georgia for failing to register as a sex offender, Dunaway fled the state. The Decatur County Sheriff’s Office asked the U.S. Marshals for assistance.
Task force members, which include investigators from GPD and the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office, developed information that Dunway and his girlfriend were hiding in a motel room in the Holiday Palm Inn at 508 East Memorial Blvd. in Lakeland. They then requested assistance from the task members in Tampa in locating Dunway. Task members located Dunway and arrested him without incident after they saw him leaving the motel with his girlfriend.
Dunaway’s violent history and multiple threats to kill people after being released from prison made him a priority, according to the press release.
Dunaway had been designated a sexual predator in 2002 by a circuit judge in Alachua County, according to the press release. He had been convicted in 1995 in Alachua County for sexual battery with a firearm, robbery with a firearm, kidnapping and grand theft auto.
Dunaway was released from a Florida prison on Sept. 2.
After his release in 2011, he moved to Bainbridge, Ga., failed to register as a sex offender and subsequently fled the state.
A Waldo police officer stopped a car Dunaway was in and arrested him. He was sent back to Georgia and convicted of failing to register. He was sentenced to 20 years probation, and about four days after his release, he returned to Florida.
