The Sierra Vista Police Department recently arrested three local men for failing to properly register as sex offenders in three unrelated cases.
The most recent arrest occurred on Saturday, Nov. 17, at about 12:50 p.m. when 35-year-old Sierra Vista resident Alberto Flores was taken into custody without incident in the 1100 block of North 7th Street. A month-long investigation identified that Flores failed to register the residence where he was residing within the time period required by state law. He was booked into Cochise County Jail for one count of failing to register as a sex offender, one count for failing to update sex offender identification, and an outstanding warrant from the SVPD for failure to appear.
On Thursday, Nov. 15, 40-year-old Arnold Ruiz was arrested at the Cochise County Jail in Bisbee where he was being held for an unrelated incident. Ruiz was identified as being a registered sex offender from California who failed to properly register when he moved to Arizona in 2014. The investigation revealed that Ruiz resided at several addresses while living in the Sierra Vista area. He was booked into Cochise County Jail on three counts of failing to register as a sex offender and one count of failing to update sex offender identification.
The final case began when 38-year-old Edgar Villarreal was arrested in the 400 block of North Railroad Avenue for a domestic violence incident on Wednesday, Nov. 14, at about 6:58 p.m. During the investigation, an SVPD officer discovered Villarreal failed to register the residence he was residing at within the time period required by state law. He was additionally charged for failing to register as a sex offender and booked into Cochise County Jail.
Failing to register as a sex offender in the state of Arizona is a class 4 felony.
Anyone with information relevant to these cases is asked to contact SVPD Detective Thomas Ransford at (520) 452-7500.