Convicted sex offender strikes again

A three-time convicted sex offender living under the radar less than a mile from

an elementary school for almost two years is facing a fourth charge in connection with an

abduction of a nine-year-old girl on Sept. 24, 2009, in South Austin.

Charles Butcher, 42, is being held in the Travis County Jail on $600,000 bond

while he waits for indictment on charges of aggravated kidnapping and failure to comply

with sex offender registration requirements, both felonies. The indictment is scheduled

for October 26 and he faces anywhere from five years to life in prison.

According to the arrest affidavit, Butcher kidnapped the victim while she was

walking to school on Sept. 24, and forced her into his 1986 GMC Sierra pickup truck. He

threatened her with a kitchen knife and brought her to his apartment where he locked her

in a closet and fed her once with toast and jelly, and a second time with ravioli.

After approximately eight hours, he then drove the victim back to her street

unharmed. The victim’s parents could not be reached for comment.

The victim’s vivid description of Butcher and the Harley-Davidson memorabilia

on his truck and in his apartment led to the arrest of Butcher following a traffic stop on

Sept. 25.

Butcher’s intentions and motive for the kidnapping are still unknown.

Butcher was convicted of kidnapping a girl with a gun in Muskingum County,

Ohio in 1995. While serving in the armed forces in Korea in 1991, he was also charged

with abducting and sexually assaulting a young girl.

According to the arrest affidavit in the Austin case, the victim walks to Cowan

Elementary School every morning from her house at 9201 Brodie Lane in South Austin.

Butcher had been living less than a mile from the school at Mission Tanglewood

Apartments since January of 2008.

Austin Police Department Sergeant Greg Moss, who supervises the sex offender

and registration division, said that there are no restrictions in Austin regarding where sex

offenders live if they are not on probation or parole.

Butcher told police after the arrest that he drives past the 9000 block of Brodie

Lane, where the alleged abduction took place, every morning on his way to work as a

technician at Jiffy Lube on Brodie Lane.

The managers of Tanglewood Apartments and Jiffy Lube refused to comment.

Bob Stoupa, the Marketing Director for Heartland Automotive Services that owns Jiffy

Lube, said the company’s policy is to perform background checks for all potential

employees. He confirmed the store manager ran a background check on Butcher before

he was hired.

Stoupa would not elaborate on why Butcher was hired given his criminal record.

According to the Austin arrest affidavit, Butcher signed the Ohio Sex offender

Registration Form as part of his release from prison in Ohio on January 9, 2008. As a

convicted sex offender, Ohio state law requires him to register with the sheriff in any
county of any state that he lives for the rest of his life.

Butcher was sentenced to 10 years in prison in Ohio for the abduction of the girl

in 1995 and an additional three years for the gun charge. His previous conviction in

Korea was not considered in his Ohio sentencing because it happened in another country,

Muskingum County Deputy Don Yarger of the sex offender registration division said.

Butcher was paroled in 2004, but was arrested and jailed again that August for

attempting to lure two young children into his car.

Yarger said he pleaded with the county judge in Ohio to change Butcher’s status

from a “sex offender” to a “sexual predator”. Sexual predators have more stringent

restrictions on relocation and repeat offenses.

His requests were denied and Butcher was released on January 1, 2008 as a sexual

offender.

All registered sex offenders in Ohio must obtain permission from the sheriff’s

department to move to another county or state and must submit an address, phone number

and all other necessary forwarding information before departing, Yarger said. Once they

leave, they have three days to register with their new county’s sheriff.

After being released from prison, Butcher told Yarger that the sheriff’s office

granted his request to move to North Carolina on Jan. 18, 2008. However, Bucher stayed

just one night in North Carolina and then left without registering, Yarger said.

On Jan. 24, Butcher called Yarger and said he had moved to Austin without

permission, which is a violation of the terms of his release from prison in Ohio.
 The same day he learned Butcher was in Austin, Yarger said he sent pictures of

Butcher, pictures of the truck used in the alleged Austin abduction and a file detailing

Butcher’s criminal history.

“I sent everything I had to the Travis County Sherriff’s Office and the Austin

Police Department,” Yarger said. “They had a picture of him and the same truck that he

abducted that girl from Austin in.”

APD Sergeant Moss said when sex offenders cross state lines there’s a possibility

for confusion because each state has different laws and Texas is not compliant with the

Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006. The law requires sex offenders to

be categorized in three tiers, the third being the most dangerous, and instructs each state

to share data on sex offenders.

“We’re looking at our internal process and looking at different ways we can

improve in the future,” Moss said. “Until every state complies with the Adam Walsh Act,

you’ll have some counties with this out-of-sight, out-of-mind attitude. The goal is to

make sure the sex offenders don’t get lost in the shuffle and this does not happen again.”

Butcher’s attorney Alex Calhoun said he is still in jail while they wait for the

official indictment that should come on October 26. Calhoun said right now, Butcher has

only been charged and if the District Attorney thinks there is enough evidence, they will

officially indict Butcher on the charges.

“I haven’t really had a chance to talk to him and gel with the guy,” Calhoun said.

“If the police think they have enough evidence, I’ll investigate and see where we stand.

But right now, it’s just too early at this point to plan a course of action.”