Trespasser arrested for violating Sex Offender Registry law

A man found to be illegally staying inside an unoccupied home in Lawrenceburg last week was arrested for violating the state’s Sex Offender Registry law.

Officers with the Lawrenceburg Police Department were dispatched to Fifth Street on Friday regarding reports of a couple living in an abandoned house.

Officers report that they approached from the rear of the home, noting that the home was powered by way of an extension cord that had been run from a camper next door. Through the window they could see a man and woman sleeping on a mattress on the floor.

The man, identified as forty-two year old Ricky Gene Burks, told officers that they had been staying at the home because they “had nowhere else to live, because they’re homeless.” He said that his grandparents were staying in the camper and knew the owner.

The officer explained that he had spoken to the persons overseeing the property and learned that they did not have permission to stay there. They were also informed that “they could not stay in a house that is uninhabitable and falling in.”

Officers discovered that Burks was a convicted sex offender. Because the house was within one thousand feet of Ingram Sowell Elementary School, they informed him he was in violation of state law. They told the woman to collect her belongings and find another place to stay.

Burks was arrested on both a residential and work restriction violation of the Sex Offender Registry law. He was transported to the Lawrence County Detention Center where he was incarcerated under a bond of $10,000. He was scheduled an initial appearance in General Sessions Court on August 4, 2017.