WOODVILLE – Tyler County Sheriff Bryan Weatherford reported that a man’s change of residence resulted in his arrest.
Weatherford said that an ongoing review of the county’s population of registered sex offenders by Ricky Coker turned up a non-compliance issue from Walter Louis Chapman, a 67-year-old Woodville man. Coker, whose primary duty with the Tyler County Sheriff’s Office is to monitor sex offenders in the county, found that Chapman had failed to report his change of address. In June, he had listed his current residence to be in Ivanhoe.
When Coker ran a compliance check at the residence on file for Chapman, he discovered it to be vacant, and as a condition of his sex offender status, Chapman is required to report any change of residence.
Coker presented a complaint/probable cause affidavit to Pct. 1 Justice of the Peace Tina Self, who issued a warrant for Chapman’s arrest.
Last Monday, Oct. 28, Chapman was arrested and booked into the Tyler County Jail on a charge of felony failure to comply with registration requirements. Judge Self set his bond at $100,000. Chapman remains in custody.
Chapman’s arrest was the second recent arrest by TCSO on a similar charge. Charles Lee Moore, of Spurger, was arrested recently on a failure to comply charge, due to a change in his employment status, which he allegedly failed to make notification about.
Chapman, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Sex Offender Registry, is classified as a “low” level offender, with a lifetime requirement to register, annually. He was convicted on an indecency with a child by contact charge in 2012. The victim was a 12-year-old female.
