A reportedly homeless convicted sex offender was arrested camping out on private property Friday for allegedly moving without notifying Hot Springs police as required.
Steven Lynn White, 40, was taken into custody shortly before 1 p.m. and charged with a felony count of failure to comply with sex offender registration and reporting requirements, punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
White remained in custody Monday in lieu of $5,000 bond and is set to appear today in Garland County District Court.
According to the probable cause affidavit, on Oct. 20, 2017, White, a Level 2 sex offender, met with Detective Kenny May at the police department and registered his address as an apartment on Civic Street. May told White he would have to report any change of residence within three days and he acknowledged he understood.
On Jan. 27, Cpl. Zac Rostan responded to a wooded area on Festival Street in reference to trespassing and made contact with White, who had set up a campsite on private property that did not belong to him.
On Thursday, May spoke to the apartment manager on Civic Street, who stated he was not aware of White residing there. May later spoke to a security guard at the apartments who said White was a former tenant there, but had moved out in late December 2017 or early January. He noted someone else was living in the apartment where White had resided.
The guard also noted White had a large amount of camping supplies with him when he left the apartment.
On Friday, Officer Jonathan Langford responded to the wooded area on Festival Street in response to a complaint about trespassing and again located White camping there at a site he stated he made for himself.
• A Hot Springs man was arrested Friday morning on a felony warrant for allegedly stealing a safe from the front desk of a local hotel last week.
Joseph Anthony Lombardo, 26, who lists a Lakeaire Terrace address, was taken into custody around 9 a.m. and charged with theft of property more than $5,000, punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Lombardo was later released on $3,500 bond and is set to appear Feb. 27 in district court.
According to the probable cause affidavit, on Feb. 13, an employee of La Quinta Inn and Suites, 4253 Central Ave., reported a theft that had occurred shortly after 1:30 p.m. He stated an unknown white male had walked behind the front desk and removed a safe and then left in a black Chevrolet passenger car.
Another employee reportedly recognized the suspect as Lombardo, a friend of a former employee, and provided Facebook photos of Lombardo wearing a jacket that matched the one worn by the suspect as seen in a security video. Lombardo was also identified by comparing his driver's license photo to the security video.
On Thursday, detectives interviewed the friend of Lombardo and showed her the security video and she reportedly confirmed it was Lombardo in the video. She said she had been in a relationship with Lombardo recently.
Local on 02/20/2018