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Two sex offenders, meth found at RV park in northeast Forsyth
Billy Ray Wiggins
Wiggins

NORTHEAST FORSYTH — Two sex offenders who failed to register at their new addresses in different counties were found together — and with drugs — Tuesday at an RV park in northeastern Forsyth.

According to the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office, deputies were initially looking for only Edward “Egbert” Earl Bennett, 69.

When they arrived about 10:09 a.m. at a home in the Shady Grove RV Park near Browns Bridge Road and Hwy. 306, they found Bennett, as well as Billy Ray Wiggins, who reportedly ran off and hid.

Robin Regan, a spokesman for the sheriff’s office, said Wiggins, 57, at first refused instructions to come out of hiding. When he did emerge, Wiggins and the deputy got in a physical altercation that left the suspect with some cuts and scrapes. The deputy wasn’t injured.

According to the sheriff’s office, Wiggins was originally convicted of a sex offense involving a 10-year-old in another state. At some point, he moved to nearby Lumpkin County, where he had failed to register as a sex offender.

After Tuesday’s incident, he was also charged with possession of methamphetamine and obstruction of a law enforcement officer.

As of Thursday night, he remained at the Forsyth County Detention Center.

Both he and Bennett, who was sought for violating his probation from a child molestation conviction, are being held there without bond, according to Regan.

Bennett has also been charged by his probation officer for association with disreputable or harmful characters and for being in a residence where methamphetamine and alcohol were present.

His sister, 65-year-old Patsy Ann Bennett, also was arrested Tuesday on charges of giving a false name and/or date of birth and with hindering the apprehension of a fugitive.

She was released from the detention center Wednesday after posting bond, according to the sheriff’s office.