Authorities in Arizona announced the arrest of a convicted sex offender who allegedly faked his own death to avoid registering. Per NBC News, the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office said 50-year-old Benjamin Hollins was arrested on May 14.
Authorities said his arrest came after he allegedly made a woman help him file a false report in October 2023. The woman claimed she saw Hollins commit suicide by jumping off the Roosevelt Bridge. No body was, however, found.
“Now, a lot of resources were wasted looking for his body, which was clearly not found, because he wasn’t dead,” Sheriff Mark Lamb with the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office said in a video statement.
Lamb said the 50-year-old was initially convicted as a sex offender in California over 20 years ago. He, however, reoffended while he was working as a behavioral health counselor. He is said to have kidnapped and tried to molest a 16-year-old client, the statement said.
Authorities said Hollins’ sex offender registration subsequently lapsed because of his reported death. Lamb said Hollins was mandated to annually register as a sex offender following a different 2018 molestation case in Arizona.
Records from the Pinal County court indicated that Hollins struck a plea agreement and entered a guilty plea to a kidnapping-related charge in 2018, NBC News reported. The plea agreement saw a count of a sexual abuse charge being dismissed.
“He ultimately took a plea deal, was sentenced to supervised probation, and was required to register as a sex offender every year,” the statement added. “Then, in October of 2023, he had a woman help him file a false report. The woman claimed she witnessed him take his own life by jumping off the Roosevelt Bridge. But a body was never found.”
