Sex offender charged with living near school
A Benton man, who is a convicted sex offender, has been charged with living too close to Howard Perrin Elementary in violation of restrictions he must comply with as an offender.
Austin Isiah Kelley, 21, has been charged with failure to register as a sex offender or report an address change, a Class C felony and registered sex offender living near a school or daycare, a Class D felony.
According to court documents, reports from Kelley’s ankle monitor log from March 3-22 contained 33 logs from Fairmont Circle in Benton. The residence belongs to a relative of Kelley. The logs showed Kelley to have spent 444.81 hours out of 538 at the residence.
After discovering Kelley spending so much time at the Fairmont residence, the Benton Police Department requested additional logs from Kelley’s probation offi
cer. From Jan. 31 - March 22, the monitor logged Kelley as staying overnight at the residence 18 times, over 24 hours, five times and over 48 hours, four times. He allegedly spent 1037.98 out of 1224 total hours at the Fairmont residence during that time period.
Kelley is a Level 3 registered sex offender who is currently registered as homeless.
“The aforementioned data would lead a reasonable person to believe he is in fact residing at…fairmont Circle,” the affidavit said. “Furthermore, with Mr. Kelley being assessed as a Level 3 offender, he is not to reside within two thousand feet of the property on which any public, private, secondary school or daycare facility is located.”
The Fairmont residence is located less than 2000 feet from Howard Perrin Elementary measured from the center of both locations.
During an interview with the Saline County Sheriff's Office, Kelley told deputies that he lived with his spouse and not at the Fairmont residence, but did often stay at his mother's residence even though he knew he would “get in trouble.” He did not dispute the location data.
According to the affidavit, Kelley's wife indicated to deputies via phone that she is currently separated from Kelley and seeking a divorce.
As part of a negotiated guilty plea in April 2019, Kelley was convicted of sexual indecency with a child, a Class D felony.
Kelley was booked into the Saline County detention center on the new charges March 26. He was released on a $2,500 bond on March 30.