After a nearly three-month-long search, Ardmore Police located and apprehended an individual accused of violating his sex offender registration status.

Ardmore Police Department Sgt. Larry Payne said officers located 49-year-old Jody Deere during a traffic stop in the 1100 block of C St. SE. “They just now found him the other day and he has not registered since before that time.”

Deere was reportedly convicted of rape in Oct. 2003 in Tulsa County, according to Carter County court documents. Deere has twice failed to register as a sex offender in Carter County and once in Marshall County.

In Nov. 2019, Ardmore police requested the public’s assistance in locating Deere after he allegedly gave police a false address. When officers attempted to verify the address, former APD Capt. Eric Hamblin said they found an empty lot.

The address Deere listed was also within 2,000 feet of a school, daycare or city park. Residency restrictions bar sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of such facilities.

Payne said Deere is known to switch residences often, which made it difficult for police to locate him.

“He had some friends that he stays with — friends and relatives, he kind of bounces around also,” Payne said. “But none of those are residences where he’s allowed to stay at based on his requirement to register as a sex offender.”

Deere is currently being held at the Carter County Jail for the felony charge of failure to register as a sex offender. His bond is set at $5,000 and a preliminary conference is scheduled for April 2.

Failure to register as a sex offender is punishable by imprisonment of no more than five years or a fine not exceeding $5,000, or both.