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Deputies: Sexual predator, 'Big Country Lee,' used unregistered Facebook accounts

SANFORD, Fla. — A 48-year-old Sanford man, who is a registered sexual predator, was arrested Tuesday after using two unregistered Facebook accounts, the Seminole County Sheriff's Office said.

Deputies said that at about 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, a Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigator traveled to the home of Gregory Lee Chidester to interview him about an anonymous tip sent to the agency that he had been using a Facebook account to contact children.

Investigators said Chidester, whose radio disc jockey name is Big Country Lee, admitted to having personal and professional Facebook accounts since about 2011.

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Chidester told investigators he uses his personal account to contact friends and relatives and to sell items, and he uses his professional account to promote and document his gigs, but he does not use them to contact children, an arrest report said.

Chidester said he did not register an email account that he uses for work nor the two Facebook accounts because the company forbids sexual offenders from having accounts, the report said.

Investigators said they seized Chidester's cellphone and will obtain a search warrant to search the device.

Chidester was booked into the John E. Polk Correctional Facility on three counts of failure to report electronic mail addresses or internet identifiers and one count of violation of probation. He is being held without bail.

Chidester was previously arrested in Seminole County in May 2006 on charges of sexual battery upon a child 9 years of age, the report said.

In that case, he pleaded guilty to attempted sexual battery upon a child less than 12 years of age, and he was adjudicated guilty and placed on probation for 30 years, according to the report.

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