TBI: Fugitive Charged with Sex Offender Registry Violations

JOHNSON CITY – A joint investigation involving the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Marshals Service and the Surgoinsville Police Department has resulted in the arrest of a Morristown man who has been a fugitive for more than two weeks on outstanding warrants for violating the sex offender registry.

Benjamin Shook

At the request of 3rd District Attorney General Dan Armstrong, TBI Special Agents, working in conjunction with the U.S. Marshals Service and Surgoinsville Police Department, began investigating Benjamin Joseph Shook on June 24th for violation of the Sex Offender Registry Act. During the course of the investigation, Shook was seen on surveillance video with 14-year-old Hayleigh Wilson, who was the subject of an AMBER Alert issued on that same day out of Hawkins County. Agents determined Shook was in violation of the Sex Offender Registry Act from December 2014 through July 2015.

Early Tuesday morning, the Smyth County Sheriff’s Office in Virginia received a 911 call from a female who stated that Shook and the teen had knocked on her door and asked to take a shower. The resident had recognized the two as being subjects of an AMBER Alert. While Shook was in the shower, the woman was able to call 911 to alert authorities. Shook, 41, was taken into custody this morning in Atkins, Virginia, by deputies with the Smyth County Sheriff’s Office. He is charged with three counts of Violation of the Sex Offender Registry Act out of Tennessee. Shook also faces federal charges and is currently being held in federal custody in Greeneville, Tennessee.