Sex offender claims he was trying to ‘help’ when he failed to register address

A sex offender in Leesburg was arrested Wednesday afternoon after failing to register a temporary address where he allegedly traveled to help a neighbor.

Joaquin Burgos, 52, is a registered sex offender in Broward County, according to an arrest report from the Lake County Sheriff’s Office. He must register due to his October 2001 conviction for lewd or lascivious molestation victim under 12 years old. He also has three previous convictions for failing to report as required in November 2011 and two failures to comply sexual offender registration violations in November 2017. 

On Dec. 18, a complaint was received at the LCSO Sexual Offender Squad that a registered sexual offender may be living unreported at an address in Leesburg. A deputy met with a witness at the address of 801 Woodland Avenue. Upon confirming that Burgos was at the address, the deputy learned from the witness that Burgos had been staying at that location since at least Dec. 13, the report said. 

Burgos advised he had been helping do some work as a favor to the witness, but he was still living at the listed permanent address of 11306 W. Sample Road in Coral Springs. He also had a temporary address as the same as his listed permanent address. He had no temporary address listed for Lake County, the report said. 

The deputy explained that Burgos would need to respond and register to list the temporary address upon staying three or more days to which Burgos stated he was commuting back and forth from Broward County, the report said. 

On Wednesday, the deputy conducted research and noted that Burgos had failed to report the temporary address. The deputy and a detective then met with Burgos at the address on Woodland Avenue where he was again told to report to registration due to being noncompliant with his sexual offender requirements, the report said. 

An interview with the witness confirmed that Burgos had been helping him and living at the address full time since Dec. 13. Burgos was later contacted as he provided an update to the sexual offender registration office at 28129 County Road 561. He was subsequently placed under arrest for the aforementioned violations, the report said. 

The Illinois native was charged with sexual offender failed to register as required (temporary address) and failed to report in county that he is residing. He was transported to the Lake County Jail with bond set at $10,000.