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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                        JANUARY 20, 2006

Alert Investigator Busts Sexual Offender

A pedophile convicted of three different crimes against children inadvertently alerted authorities to another felony he allegedly committed when he visited State Attorney Mark Kohl’s offices in Key West Tuesday, according to investigators there.

Thomas Joseph Meder, 43, recently of Enchanted Isle, wanted to file an assault complaint with investigator Martin Gillispie on January 17. 

Investigators describe Enchanted Isle as an area adjacent to Key Haven frequented by homeless people.  Meder said he had moved there on January 9, 2006.

During the course of the interview, Investigator Gillespie determined that Meder was a convicted sexual offender.

Florida law states that “a sexual offender shall report in person at a driver’s license office . . . within 48 hours after any change in the offender’s permanent or temporary residence.”  The law also applies to transient offenders without a physical address. 

Gillispie said a check of the Florida driver license and vehicle database revealed that Meder had not registered as a sexual offender in Monroe County.

State Attorney investigators obtained a warrant for Meder’s arrest from Circuit Court Judge Wayne Miller with a bond of $50,000.  At about 10:30 last night, Gillispie and two Monroe County Sheriff’s Office deputies picked up Meder at Enchanted Isle where he was living in a tent.  He is currently in custody.

According to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Meder was convicted of two counts of a lewd and lascivious act with a child under the age of 16 and one count of the false imprisonment of a child under the age of 16 in Palm Beach County in 1992.

 If convicted of his failure to report his change in residence, a third-degree felony under F

Last modified: 10/23/07                    

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