Unpaid snack lands sex offender in jail

A registered sex offender from Palmdale was arrested in Canyon Country on suspicion of burglary this past weekend after allegedly eating a stolen shrimp and then washing it down with a stolen energy drink.

Alfredo Dempkey, 35, was arrested by deputies of the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station shortly after 7:40 p.m. Saturday, according to arrest documents maintained by the Los Angeles County Sheriff Department’s Inmate Information Center.

“The suspect entered a grocery store on the 19200 block of Soledad Canyon Rd., Canyon Country,” Shirley Miller, spokeswoman for the local sheriff’s station said.

“After going into the store, he proceeded to the fish section, took shrimp and ate it,” she said. “He then took one the store’s energy drinks and drank it without making any attempt to pay for items.

“The suspect was a sex registrant from Lancaster which increased the shoplifting charge from a misdemeanor to a felony offense,” Miller said.

Dempkey remains in custody with bail set at $20,000.

He became a registered sex offender in 2003 after he was convicted of oral copulation by force or fear, according to information posted on the California Megan’s Law Website which is maintained by the California Department of Justice, office of the Attorney General.