The owner of a downtown Gainesville ice cream shop was arrested Tuesday after police discovered he was a registered sex offender operating his business under a fake name, authorities said.
Endrick Torres, 39, is charged with violating Georgia’s sex offender law for allegedly being too close to children and one count of forgery for allegedly using a fake name to run the business.
Gainesville police said Torres’ ice cream and doughnut shop — Love Is All You Knead — is located near a child development center in Gainesville’s Main Street Market.
Sgt. Kevin Holbrook said investigators looked into Torres after receiving a tip that he operated his shop under a fake name and that he had been convicted of child molestation in New York. He said the Barrow County man had several aliases that he used since his 2014 conviction.
Police said there’s no indication any children were abused at the ice cream shop, which opened in December.
“It’s a red flag that he’s a registered sex offender operating a doughnut and ice cream shop that does entice children,” Holbrook said.
Torres’ landlord, Claude Tatro, told Channel 2 Action News his tenant used forged documents when he approached him about opening the shop late last year.
“He was manipulating the trust that people usually put in (others),” Tatro said, adding that the ice cream shop is being shut down.
Torres remains held at the Hall County Jail without bond.
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