Tired of ads? Subscribers enjoy a distraction-free reading experience.
Click here to subscribe today or Login.

KINGSTON — A convicted sexual offender wanted on allegations he violated Florida’s Megan’s Law registration requirements was captured during a traffic stop of an Uber driver early Tuesday morning.

Police arrested Joseph Scott Daniel Bender, 23, of Defuniak Springs, Fla., after a records check showed he was wanted in Florida.

Bender was one of three passengers inside an Acura driven by an Uber driver who was stopped in the area of Main and Northampton streets just after 12 a.m., according to court records.

Bender was arraigned by District Judge Brian James Tupper in Luzerne County Central Court as a fugitive from justice. He was jailed at the county correctional facility without bail pending an extradition hearing in county court.

Bender is listed as a sexual offender on the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s website.

Online records from the Florida Department of Corrections indicate Bender was sentenced to two years in prison in June 2014 for molesting a person younger than 12-years-old in May 2013.

Bender’s status on Florida’s sexual offender website is listed as ‘absconded’ as having no longer residing at the last reported address.

Bender
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/web1_Joseph-Bender-FloridaMegansLaw.jpg.optimal.jpgBender

By Ed Lewis

[email protected]