Convicted sex offender found carrying large hunting knife while wandering near children

LAKE COUNTY, Fla. — Lake County deputies arrested a convicted sex offender they said was found wandering through backyards with a hunting knife while he stared at children playing in the neighborhood.

On Saturday, multiple residents in a neighborhood near Helena Court and Barksdale Drive in Eustis called 911 when they say Micah Myers walking around with a large hunting knife.

“He was just running around through neighborhood, through backyards and walking by kids and staring at them,” said Lake County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Fred Jones.

Resident Bill Brown said he confronted Myers when he saw him in his back yard.

“I hollered at him, ‘Man, where do you think you’re going?’ And he said, ‘I’m going to my apartment back there.’ And I said, ‘Let me tell you something, you don’t have no apartment in my yard. You get out of here,’” said Brown.

Other residents feared for their safety.

“I went in and got something to defend myself,” said resident Gerry Bouchard.

Some residents followed Myers to make sure he couldn’t get away.

“We started hunting him and the next thing I knew, there were eight or nine cars everywhere hunting him. And we finally found him when he came out from down there,” said Brown.

An off-duty detention deputy was about to get the suspect into custody when deputies arrived.

Myers was released from jail last week on drug charges.

He was previously convicted of sex assault on an underage victim.

Myers is being held in jail.

Cox Media Group