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November 23, 2012

Authorities snare sex offender in motor home

By JOSH NEWTON Staff Writer

TAHLEQUAH — Cherokee County sheriff’s investigators scooped up a convicted sex offender Wednesday afternoon after finding out he was living out of a motor home that was parked in various places in Tahlequah.

Investigator James Brown said Ronald “Ronnie” William Branson, 30, had failed to register in Eufaula, and parole authorities there contacted Brown.

Brown said Branson had not notified local authorities he was living in Tahlequah.

Investigators learned Branson was living with his parents in a motor home, which Brown said they would park at different locations around the city.

Brown on Wednesday went to the motor home – which was parked near a motel not far from Heritage Elementary, he said – but it began to travel away before backup arrived.

Investigators followed the motor home, conducted a traffic stop and arrested Branson for failure to register as a sex offender.

“He admitted he’d been living in Tahlequah for the last 30 days,” said Brown. “He had never registered here. He didn’t check in with the city, he didn’t check in with me in the county, or with probation and parole. Nobody.”

Brown said the motor home was not impounded because the driver had a valid license and the vehicle was properly insured.

According to court records, Branson was arrested in 2007 for making lewd or indecent proposals to a child under 16 and offering to engage in an act of lewdness in Oklahoma County.

He later pleaded guilty and received 20-year suspended sentences, but was ordered to serve six years in prison.

Records from the Oklahoma Department of Corrections show Branson was released from prison in August 2012, and was set to be under probation through August 2026.

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