During a routine traffic stop, police in Memphis discovered they had pulled over a convicted child molester, but more ominously they found five pre-teen children in his car, none of whom were related to him.
Police reported that Jerome Sawyer, who has convictions for violent sex offenses against children, was pulled over because he wasn’t wearing a seat belt. But when police ran his name they began to wonder about the children who were passengers in his car.
A Memphis police spokesman reported officers found two boys and three girls ranging from ages five to 11-years-old in the 53-year-old suspect’s car.
Police also said they also found several pairs of children’s underwear under the car seat.
It was reported that the children’s underwear was sent to the sex crimes lab to be tested for evidence of molestation.
According to WMC TV in Memphis, the sex offender was charged with violating the state’s sex offender registry act, as well as counts of violating seat belt laws and failing to properly restrain children in a moving vehicle.
Family Services was also contacted to investigate the home lives of the five children to see how they could have ended up in the care of a sex offender.
Sawyer is being held on $15,000 bond.
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