Registered sex offender found living in illegal Altamonte Springs day care, investigators say

SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. — A sex offender registered in Orange County was allegedly found living in an illegal day care in unincorporated Altamonte Springs, according to investigators.

Michael Mance II was arrested last week by the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office on suspicion of failing to update his residence. In 2008, Mance was convicted of child pornography charges.

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Investigators received a tip that Mance was living at a home illegally on Little Wekiwa Drive, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by Eyewitness News. The tip also alleged that the owner of the home, Tonja Clausen, was running an illegal day care out of the same home.

When questioned, Clausen told investigators that she has been using her home as a day care for several years, but she had “been lazy” and failed to register it as a day care.

She said Mance, who she identified as her husband, “sometimes” stays at the home, and that the children and parents call him “Mick” or “Grandpa.”

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Channel 9 spoke with Clausen at the home. She told reporter Jeff Levkulich that she “was not” running an illegal day care out of the home, and that Mance was “not living here, he would stay here.”

A woman whose grandchildren attended the day care said she was shocked to find out last week that Mance was allegedly living at the home.

“It’s a wake-up call for all of us,” she said. “If we would have known that, we would not have taken any of my grandkids there.”

Clausen is not currently facing any charges. An active criminal investigation is still ongoing regarding the case.

The Department of Child Services could not be reached for comment.

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