Authorities say a repeat sex offender who was reported to be dead was actually living in Mesa for months under a new identity. 50-year-old Benjamin Hollins is being held in a Pinal County jail and is due in court on Tuesday.
Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb says someone helped Hollins fake his death in October.
"She filed a police report that Benjamin jumped off a bridge at the Roosevelt Dam. Now, a lot of resources were wasted looking for his body, which was clearly not found, 'cause he wasn’t dead."
Chandler police detectives tracked Hollins down, and the Pinal County regional SWAT team made the arrest. Lamb says Hollins has a history of dodging the law in Arizona. The first instance was when he failed to register as a sex offender after moving here in 2018. He had been convicted of sex crimes in California.
