A registered sex offender from Texas apparently tried to break free from his past by moving to Florida and cutting off the GPS tracking device he was ordered to wear, Lee County Sheriff’s authorities said today.

Lee County deputies located Pablo Lopez, 51, at 35 Alabama Road in Lehigh and arrested him shortly before 2:30 p.m. on August 7. Lopez was convicted of a sex crime in Jefferson County, Texas, in 1980 and declared a sexual offender, authorities said. He had since been released from the sanction imposed by the conviction, but terms of his probation included wearing a GPS tracking device and registering a new address each time he moved.

An investigation reveals that Lopez moved to Florida and stopped doing both. According to a state Probation Officer, Lopez cut off his GPS tracking device in December 2008 while he was living in Immokalee. He then moved to Lehigh Acres, where he had been renting a room since mid-June, authorities said.

Lopez is facing fugitive from justice charges from Texas. And since he never reported his change of address when he moved to Lehigh Acres, the Lee County Sheriff’s Office Sexual Predator/Offender Unit has charged him with failure to register as a sex offender.