Man From Arizona Was Arrested After Pretending to Be Dead to Escape Registering as a Sexual Offender

The Pinal County Sheriff’s Office says that a man in Arizona was arrested earlier this week after he reportedly faked his own death to avoid being registered as a sex offender.

Benjamin Hollins, 50, was arrested on Tuesday after the Chandler Police Department found him living under a fake name at a home in Mesa, Arizona. He was first convicted of sex crimes in California more than 20 years ago.

He was being sought by police, but the sheriff’s office did not say why or how they found him.

It was 2018 and Hollins was living in Arizona City. A Facebook post from the sheriff’s office said he had not registered as a sex offender outside of California. He also worked as a psychologist for mental health.

Hollins took a 16-year-old client hostage and tried to molest her while working that job. As part of his plea deal, he was given supervised probation and had to register as a sex offender every year.

The sheriff’s office said he didn’t do what was asked of him and tried to fake his own death in October 2023.

Police say they have a woman who has not been named who saw Hollins jump off the bridge at the Theodore Roosevelt Lake Dam between Gila and Maricopa counties and kill himself.

“A lot of resources were wasted looking for his body, which was clearly not found because he wasn’t dead,” Sheriff Lamb said.

Hollins’ sex offender registration expired when he was “dead,” according to the sheriff’s office. He was living with a family with young children when he was found in Mesa.

“No idea about his history,” the sheriff’s office wrote, the family did not know.

In a short video shared to Facebook on Thursday, Lamb talked about Hollins’ arrest.

You did well, Benjamin. We found you. You’re still alive. As seen in the video, Lamb said, “We’re going to charge you.”

Hollins is booked to go to court on Tuesday.

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