A 28-year-old registered sex offender who was convicted in San Diego in 2015 was arrested Thursday in Northern California for allegedly having sex with a teenage girl, police said.
Benjamin Thomas Shumate, who previously lived in Poway, allegedly had sex with the teen in Santa Rosa after meeting her on a dating application in June, Santa Rosa police Sgt. Brenda Harrington said.
Shumate and the teen met a few times over the course of a few months at various locations in Santa Rosa and on at least one occasion, he sexually assaulted her, Harrington said.
The assault was not immediately reported to police, she said.
Shumate was convicted in 2015 for arranging to meet with a minor for sex. He was sentenced to four years in prison and ordered to register as a sex offender.
He was released in 2016 and paroled to Sonoma County.
Shumate was arrested without incident and charged with parole violation, unlawful sex with a minor, oral copulation of a minor and penetration with a foreign object.
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He is being held at the Sonoma County Main Adult Detention Facility on $50,000 bond. Shumate is scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday.
