BISMARCK, AR – Secret compartments and false walls were used to hide a level three sex offender from law enforcement for three years. Investigators found him Tuesday at his moms house across the street from a school.
According to the Hot Spring County Sheriff’s Office Roger Martin, 57, was wanted originally in Garland County for failure to register at his listed address.
Law enforcement in Hot Spring County tried to track him down at his mom’s house but neighbors who had seen him go back and forth say it seemed Martin was always one step ahead of investigators. It turns out he never really had to go anywhere.
According to the HSCSO someone tipped them off that Martin created spots inside his mothers house to hide from law enforcement including a hollow wall closet and a hidden compartment behind a couch in the living room of the home.
HSCSO had been to the home along HWY 84 in Bismarck several times but were never able to find him.
They were very concerned because it was so close to the Bismarck Schools.
“He’s a level III sex offender and he’s required to be 2000 feet from the school and he was less than 200 so as parent myself I don’t like that at all,” explained HSCSO Detective Richard Friend.
Tuesday (4/21) investigators waited outside the home to confirm more than just the mother, who is in her early eighties, was living there.
They finally convinced her to get him to come out.
“She said ‘Well come on in’ and she hollered very feebly and said ‘Roger it’s over come on out’,” Detective Friend shared. “He actually stepped out of a spot in the closet and gave himself up.”
Martin is held on a $25,000 bond and faces charges of failure to register as a sex offender and living within 2,000 feet of a school.
Here’s the official release from HSCSO:
“[Tuesday] Hot Spring County Detectives located Roger Martin, 57 year old male, who was a registered sex offender from Garland County. Martin failed to register to his listed address and was wanted for over three years by Garland County Sheriff’s Office. Garland County notified Hot Spring County Detectives that they received information that Martin was living in the area near the school [along] Highway 84. They were advised Martin was living with his mother and he had cutout hiding places inside the residence where he would hide when law enforcement attempted to locate him.
Detectives from Hot Spring County Sheriff’s Office were able to take him into custody without incident [Tuesday] at the Highway 84 address. He was booked into Hot Spring County Detention Center for Failure to Register as a Sex Offender, and Living within 2,000 feet of a school as a sex offender. His bond was set at $25,000.00.”