A sex offender registered with the Baxter County Sheriff’s Office has been arrested and charged with violating sex offender registration requirements.
Sheriff’s Deputy Tanner Anderson is in charge of registering sex offenders with the Sheriff’s Office and monitoring their status. On May 14, 2025, pursuant to his duties, Deputy Anderson was conducting routine checks on a list of registered sex offenders to ensure compliance. In so doing, he located a Facebook account belonging to registered sex offender WILLIAM SHELTON, 70 years old of Midway, Arkansas. Deputy Anderson was able to confirm that the Facebook account did, in fact, belong to WILLIAM SHELTON. All sex offenders, including SHELTON, are required to verify their residence and provide basic information to the Sheriff’s Office every six months. This includes providing address, vehicle information, employment information, contact phone numbers, social media accounts, and etc. SHELTON had never informed the Sheriff’s Office that he had a Facebook account, contrary to his lawful requirement to do so.
WILLIAM SHELTON, who is classified by the state as a Level 4 sex offender (sexually violent predator) was arrested by Deputy Anderson on June 10, 2025 and booked into the Detention Center on a felony charge of Failing to Register or Verify Registration Information. He was later released from detention after posting bond in the amount of $15,000. SHELTON will appear before the Baxter County Circuit Court to answer on September 23, 2025.