A man convicted of rape and kidnapping is on the run after failing to register as a sex offender in Gwinnett County, authorities said.
This isn’t his first time absconding.
Bobby Bell, born in 1972, was on work release in Gwinnett after previously failing to register in the county, the sheriff’s office told AJC.com. He finished that work detail last month, but he’s accused of repeating the offense the first chance he was given.
The sheriff’s office obtained the warrant for failing to register, which is a felony, on April 23, according to county records.
In April 1999, Bell was convicted of a rape and kidnapping that took place a year earlier in Fulton County, according to Georgia Department of Corrections records. He received a 10-year sentence and spent about nine years behind bars in Wilcox State Prison.
Additional details about his conviction were not immediately available. Atlanta police said the 1998 incident did not take place in its jurisdiction.
Credit: Georgia Department of Corrections
Credit: Georgia Department of Corrections
After leaving prison, Bell went to Gwinnett and registered as a sex offender in 2008, according to the GBI’s registry. His last known address was removed from the registry after he absconded last month.
Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to contact the Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office at 770-619-6500.
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