Registered Sex Offender Finds That a Rolling Stone Gathers No Moss

Ronald Murphy

​In what appears to be a form-letter notice, the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office yesterday announced that "a declared sexual predator, Ronald Earl Murphy... is now residing at Transient, Delray Beach, FL." Transient is not the name of a hip new boutique hotel on Atlantic Avenue. It's more of a lifestyle, and with Florida's draconian laws on sex offender residency, Transient is the hippest trend in sex offender culture.

Ridiculously, the form letter goes on to say that PBSO is "in the process of notifying all licensed daycare centers located within a one-mile radius of Murphy's residence." So... every daycare in Delray and the surrounding cities then?

This will be Murphy's second effort at being a law-abiding transient. After the jump, learn how he failed the first time.

According to a 1996 article in the Sun-Sentinel, Murphy was arrested 13 years ago this month after he roused a woman who was taking a nap in Fort Lauderdale's Poinciana Park. They chatted amicably before Murphy made a business proposition: She could be a prostitute; he could rob her johns. The woman told police she was too menaced by Murphy to oppose this plan, following him to a secluded location behind a garbage bin, where he punched her in the face, forced her to give him oral sex, then raped her.

Not exactly the kind of guy you want as your next-door neighbor. But then, it sure would be nice to be able to pinpoint a permanent location for a fellow like Murphy, even if that's within 1,000 yards of a daycare or a church or a petting zoo.