A sex offender accused of moving into his girlfriend’s Centralia home without notifying law enforcement was charged Thursday for allegedly failing to register as a sex offender.
The offender, identified as Micah James Scholes, 24, was arrested and booked into the Lewis County Jail at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 11, according to jail records.
Scholes is required to register as a level 1 sex offender due to a 2014 first-degree child molestation conviction in Kitsap County, according to jail records. He reportedly moved to Lewis County in 2016 and properly maintained his registration until May 2020, when he left Washington for two years without notifying the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. He returned to Washington in October 2022 and was convicted for one count of failure to register in Lewis County Superior Court that same month. He was sentenced to four months in the Lewis County Jail and was released on Jan. 5, 2023, according to court records.
Scholes registered at an address in the 100 block of McGlaughlin Road after his release, but allegedly wasn’t living there when a detective went to confirm his registration on Oct. 5.
A detective later confirmed Scholes had allegedly moved in with his girlfriend and his girlfriend’s young daughter in the 300 block of East Pine Street in June 2023, according to court documents.
In an interview with a Lewis County Sheriff’s Office detective on Wednesday, Scholes allegedly told the detective “he knew he screwed up,” said “his life had spiraled down, that he met a girlfriend … in May and that he moved in with her,” according to court documents.
He allegedly said he watches his girlfriend’s daughter while she is at work.
Bail is set at $25,000. Arraignment is scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 19.
