Sexual Predator on Tybee Island Cuts Off Tracking Device

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TYBEE ISLAND, GA (WTOC) - Law enforcement officers are searching for a man authorities list as one of the most dangerous sex offenders in Chatham County. They are looking for 40-year-old Stephen Alexander Bell.

Bell is 5'6", he has brown hair and blue eyes and he has a "Jolly Roger" tattoo on his left shoulder. Authorities say he lives and works on Tybee Island and is classified by the Georgia Department of Corrections as a sexually dangerous predator.

Deputies with the Chatham County Sheriff's Department Sex Offender Registration and Tracking Unit found Bell was on the run when state officials told them he cut off his ankle tracking monitor.

Bell was convicted in 2004 for child molestation. Authorities say he molested a girl on Tybee Island. He got out of prison last summer. Deputies said Bell is also a convicted sex offender in another state and last month, the Georgia Department of Corrections listed him as a sexually dangerous predator, their highest classification of sex offenders.

Today, Chatham County deputies notified other police agencies to be on the lookout for Stephen Bell. "Currently we are actually putting Mr. Bell's picture out at as many local agencies as possible," said deputy Octavious Anderson. "In Chatham County, we don't allow sex offenders to roam without knowing their whereabouts."

Jason Henry may be one of the last people to have seen Bell. Henry works at the Chu's Convenience Store on Butler Avenue on Tybee. "I seen him yesterday down there at the Chu's," Henry said. "I shake his hand and fix him coffee."

When Henry saw the wanted poster for Stephen Bell, he couldn't believe it. "That's crazy," he said. "I talk to him all the time."

Henry said he had no idea bell is a convicted child molester and listed as a sexually dangerous predator. "I have a little girl too, you've got to be kidding me," he said. "He didn't strike me as nothing that wasn't normal for Tybee Island."

Tracy Yarbrough works at the Chu's Department Store on Tybrisa Street. She said she knew about Bell's past. "I knew the little girl it happened too," she said.

But Yarbrough said she thought Bell had turned his life around. He was doing odd construction jobs on Tybee. She had no idea, until WTOC told her, that the ankle tracking monitor she found behind the store belonged to Bell. "I had no idea it was him, none whatsoever. He was working right next door."

Yarbrough found the monitor in the alley behind the store. Now the device is in the hands of officers who are trying to track Bell on their own. Henry and Yarborough said they gave the deputies all the information they have on Bell. They said Bell walks every where he goes, they've never seen him driving a car. That may mean he is still in the area. "He's definitely here on the island," said Henry.

Deputies hope to soon have him back behind bars. He is facing charges for violating his probation and violating his requirements as a registered sex offender. If you have any information about where Stephen Bell is, contact investigator Warren Blanton at 912.652.7697 or you can call CrimeStoppers at 912.234.2020.

WTOC has contacted the Department of Corrections to find out why no one started investigating Bell's disappearance until today. Yarbrough found the ankle tracking monitor with the strap cut on Saturday and immediately called the number on the back. DOC didn't notify the Chatham County Sheriff's Department until last night.

Reported by: Michelle Paynter, mpaynter@wtoc.com