Registered sex offender arrested for attempting to kidnap teen in Oconee County
Matthew Ronald Crawford (Oconee County Sheriff's Office)
OCONEE COUNTY, Ga. - A registered sex offender, who is accused of attempting to kidnap a teenage boy in Oconee County last weekend, was arrested on Thursday.
Matthew Ronald Crawford, 41, was charged with kidnapping and simple battery.
According to the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office, Crawford approached the teen around 1 p.m. on Saturday near the intersection of Highway 441 and Cemetery Road in Bishop while driving a pickup truck with a trailer.
He reportedly asked the juvenile if he wanted to do a job to earn money. While speaking with the boy, the suspect allegedly grabbed the boy's arm, but the teenager was able to escape and flee the scene.
The truck then sped off heading north on Highway 441 towards Athens.
Crawford is listed as a sex offender in the Georgia Bureau of Investigation's online registry. According to the Georgia Department of Corrections, he was released in June 2021 after serving a 20-year sentence on four counts of enticing a child for indecent purposes in Gwinnett County in 2008, 2010, and 2012.
Investigators say they were able to identify Crawford and arrest him with the help of authorities from Morgan County and Macon-Bibb County.