A man with previous convictions for sex crimes in Oklahoma who moved to Great Bend was arrested last Friday for failing to register with local law enforcement as required by law, Barton County Sheriff Brian Bellendir said. George H. Murphy, age 39, was arrested and booked into the Barton County Jail for aggravated violation of the Kansas Offender Registration Act. He is being held in lieu of $100,000 bond.

According to the Kansas Bureau of Investigation website of registered offenders, Murphy was convicted in 2002 in Woodward County, Oklahoma, on two counts of rape and one count of lewd molestation or indecent proposals/acts to a child. He had been on the registry since 2011 and is required to maintain his registration for the rest of his life.

In 2012, the Enid News and Eagle reported Murphy had been arrested in Enid, Okla., and charged with failure to register as a sex offender. That report also noted he was convicted in 2005 in Garfield County, Oklahoma for failure to register as a sex offender and sentenced to five years imprisonment.

Certain criminal offenses result in the defendant being classified as an “offender” under the Kansas Offender Registration Act. They include sex offenders, violent offenders and certain drug offenders. The Barton County Sheriff’s Office checks the addresses of known offenders on the registry two a year, Bellendir said. “Without fail we find one or two that didn’t register.” Those names are entered into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database. Currently, there are six to 10 outstanding warrants, Bellendir estimated.