Sex offender indicted for failure to register

6/3/2010

A former Michigan woman who spent time in prison for a sexual offense was indicted in U.S. District Court in Toledo yesterday for failing to register as a sex offender.

Cherie Searles, 54, also known as Cherie Fryer, was arrested last month after she was found to be living in a West Alexis Road apartment building. According to court documents, Searles served 15 years in a Michigan prison after being convicted of felony criminal sexual conduct in the second degree. She was released from prison in 2007 and ordered to register as a sexual offender in the county where she lived, court documents indicate.

Authorities believe she moved to Toledo in May, 2009. That same month, Michigan State Police issued a warrant for her arrest after she absconded from the sex offender registry, court documents stated.

She was featured on a news program in Detroit in April, leading to a tip of her whereabouts in Toledo, court records said. She was ordered detained at a May 12 hearing in federal court. She remains in custody.