TAHLEQUAH —
Cherokee County sheriff’s officials say a convicted sex offender has apparently moved but failed to notify authorities of his address change.
Sheriff’s Investigator James Brown said Robert A. Peal, 46, is required to register every 90 days as a level-three sex offender.
Peal last registered in June with a Tahlequah address, but Brown said when he recently went to that address, the residents claimed Peal moved to Tulsa.
“He’s moved and hasn’t registered anywhere,” said Brown. “The ladies who live where he was living know him and said he moved in March, but is still getting his mail here. He came June 18 to the sheriff’s office and registered [with the Tahlequah address].”
Brown believes Peal likely registered last June in Tahlequah as a way of avoiding the requirement to register where he now lives.
Peal was arrested in Cherokee County in 1997 on nine felony counts, including lewd molestation and forcible sodomy involving a 6-year-old girl.
Later that year, a jury convicted him on four of the nine counts. Two of the charges had been dismissed before the trial due to a lack of evidence.
Then-Chief District Judge Bruce Sewell, during formal sentencing, told Peal it was “unfortunate” that the judge could only give him the sentence recommended by the jury, and suggested Peal consider looking for some way to “save [his] soul.”
“Unfortunately, you are going to get out of jail again,” Sewell told Peal during the sentencing hearing in September 1997. “We can all just pray that the system tracks you.”
According to the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, Peal was released from state prison in May 2007.
In 2009, he was charged in Delaware County with being a registered sex offender and residing within 2,000 feet of a school. He was charged in 2010 for being a registered sex offender and providing services to children.
Court records show Peal is wanted in Delaware County for outstanding warrants.
Local News
Sex offender moves, fails to notify authorities
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