Bunnell, FL - A 43-year-old sex offender living in Flagler County is back behind bars after detectives say he was using social media to chat online with a 13-year-old girl.
Thomas E. Bradshaw was booked this afternoon (November 14th) at Flagler County Jail on two charges of failing to register with a total bond of $80,000, according to the Flagler County Sheriff's Office.
Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly says Bradshaw failed to register that Snapchat account with law enforcement as he is required to do by law and also didn't tell law enforcement that he was staying on occasion at his girlfriend's home on Crompton Place in Palm Coast.
"This isn’t his first time failing to properly register as a sex offender and, unfortunately, he does not seem to learn from past mistakes," Staly added. "He went to prison for soliciting a minor online and here he is chatting with a minor again on social media."
According to his arrest report, FCSO was tipped off on October 24th about Bradshaw using the Snapchat account "AMCD 6975" to talk to the underage girl without her parents' knowledge. It noted that parts of the conversation between Bradshaw and the girl appeared to have been deleted from her phone and investigators weren't able to retrieve those parts during a forensic search.
Bradshaw also came into contact with detectives during a pre-Halloween operation where FCSO checked up on sex offenders and predators in the county to make sure they were living where they were registered. It was then, according to Staly, when FCSO discovered Bradshaw was staying off and on at the Bunnell address he had put on file instead of actually living there.
"I’m proud of our detectives for working so hard to follow up on this case and get this offender back in jail," Staly noted.
When questioned by FCSO last week, Bradshaw claimed it was all a "big misunderstanding" and that he didn't have any inappropriate conversations with the girl.
The report also shows Bradshaw telling investigators that he didn't know he was supposed to register that Snapchat account since his cell phone already was on file or that he was supposed to tell law enforcement his girlfriend's address since he was staying there at least two nights a week.
Bradshaw did admit to telling the homeowner at his girlfriend's place about his sex offender status when he initially left prison last December, per the report.
Bradshaw spent 40 months in prison after his conviction in 2012 for using a computer to solicit or lure a child to engage in sexual conduct, according to the state Department of Corrections.
