A registered sex offender arrested Monday for allegedly kidnapping a Cleveland teenage girl violated the terms of his probation twice in one year.
Legal documents revealed that Carlos Brown, 26, pleaded guilty to sexual battery in 2012 and was sentenced to two years in prison.
On Monday, Brown allegedly kidnapped a 17-year-old girl from a RTA rapid train at the Windermere station in East Cleveland. The victim told newsnet5.com’s Homa Bash that he tried “to sell her for sex,” and gave her drugs.
East Cleveland police arrested Brown after the girl alerted a restaurant worker.
According to Ohio’s sex offender registry, Brown is a Tier III sex offender and his previous victims included a 15-year-old girl in Stark County and a 19-year-old girl in Cuyahoga County.
Brown was advised upon his release that failure to adhere to the conditions of post release control could lead to “a prison term as part of the sentence” for up to a year.
But even after failing to update his sex offender registration in March, Brown was not sent back to jail. He was sentenced to community control sanctions instead.
Court documents said that “community control sanctions will adequately protect the public and will not demean the seriousness of the offense.”
But legal expert Tim Dimoff told newsnet5.com that the sanctions failed to protect Brown’s most recent alleged victim.
“It absolutely could have been prevented,” Dimoff told newsnet5.com. “There were red flags early on that this person was deviating from the probation requirements.”
Brown is currently charged with kidnapping, corruption of a minor and drug offenses.
newsnet5.com reached out to the judge who oversaw Brown’s violation of community control sanctions but did not receive a response.
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