Crime & Safety

Police: Registered Sex Offender Lost and Found Again

Registered sex offender turns up at registered address after disappearing, cops say.

A convicted sex offender in violation of not registering with police was found at his Oak Lawn address after disappearing for several weeks, reports said.

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Leron T. Hampton, 37, was taken into custody and charged with a felony failure to register at his apartment in the 9700 block of South Pulaski Road.

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Oak Lawn police had until he was eventually deemed in violation of the Illinois Sex Offender's Act as "address unknown," police said.

Oak Lawn police located Hampton while responding to a domestic disturbance call around 4:52 p.m. Jan. 18 at Hampton’s apartment, police said.

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Hampton’s father told police he came to check on the apartment that he provides for his son, when Hampton began yelling at him to leave, the report said.

Leaving the apartment to avoid further confrontation, police said that Hampton followed his dad into the hallway and continued to yell at him.

Hamptonwent back inside his apartment when his father called police. Officers said that the father asked them to talk to his son and try to calm Hampton down.

Officers soon discovered that Hampton is the registered sex offender they had attempted to locate in October, who is in violation with an unknown address, reports said.

His father said he comes to check up on his son about once week, but that Hampton is often not there for weeks at a time, police said. Hampton’s father said he didn’t know where his son would disappear too, reports said.

Asked where he spent his time away from his apartment, Hampton allegedly replied that he went to the city’s West Side to “hang with my mom for a few days and my girls for a few days.” Police said he could not give an exact time when he was away.

Hampton said he registered with police in May and doesn’t have to verify his address, officers said. He was taken into custody and brought to the Oak Lawn police station.

At the station, police obtained Hampton’s sex offender registration form from May 15, 2012, indicating that he lived in the 9700 block of South Pulaski Road. His ID and driver’s license also listed the same address.

Police said that Hampton’s most recent case report showed that officers tried to contact him several times throughout the month of October to verify his address, which police were unable to do.

After being read his read his rights, Hampton allegedly confirmed that he would leave his apartment for several days at a time to spend time with his mother and a girlfriend. He told police he still lives on Pulaski and that he had come home just that day after spending three days with his mom and three nights with a girlfriend, reports said.

Police said that Hampton could not provide exact address or phone numbers.

According to Hampton, he stays with his mom until they need a breather from each other, police said.

Hampton’s father was able to provide a phone number for his son’s mother. Police said his mother confirmed that Hampton had been staying with her the past two weeks and had just left that morning.

According to the report, his mother said that when he does go visit her, he normally stays a week or longer. Police said she was unaware that he needed to notify Oak Lawn police when he visits her.

The Cook County State’s Attorney’s office approved felony charges for failure to register as a sex offender.

Hampton is being held in the Cook County Jail on $100,000 bail. He is due back in court in Bridgeview on Feb. 7.

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