Sex offender seen with missing Hawkins County girl convicted of aggravated ... - WATE 6 On Your Side
SURGOINSVILLE (WATE/WKPT) – Police said a man believed to be with a 14-year-old girl has a lengthy criminal history that includes nine counts of sexual exploitation of a minor. According to Police Chief James Hammonds, Wilson voluntarily left her mother and step father’s home in Surgoinsville on Monday night. He says Wilson was last confirmed to be seen with Benjamin Joseph Shook, 41, at a Walmart in Marion, North Carolina, early Tuesday morning. Previous story: AMBER alert issued for Hawkins County girl last seen with sex offender. The police chief said Shook was incarcerated from 2004 to 2014, after being convicted on 9 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor in Georgia. However, after he was released from prison, he says Shook failed to register as a sex offender. Shook was found guilty of child molestation that occurred on June 2004 in Habersham County, Georgia and aggravated child molestation for an incident in May 2002 in Stephens County, Georgia. He was also incarcerated in 1992. Hammonds suspects 14-year-old Wilson met Shook online. Wilson and Shook are believed to be traveling in a 2004, maroon, Ford Explorer Sport Trac with TN. Source: wate.com
