Latest local news, weather, high school sports in the Rio Grande Valley

A convicted sex offender is behind bars after he failed to report moving from Santa Rosa to Harlingen.

Santa Rosa police arrested 49-year-old Leonel Perez on a sex offender duty to register charge over the weekend.

Court records released in the case show that Perez registered as a sex offender with Santa Rosa police back in 2008.

But investigators allege that Perez moved from to an apartment off the 1500 block of North Commerce Street in Harlingen without notifying anyone.

Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) records show that the unemployed plumber is supposed to register as a sex offender for life.

Perez has a lengthy criminal history from Sinton and Nueces County that also includes assault, theft and evading arrests.

He was sentenced to five years in prison for molesting a 13-year-old boy in Corpus Christi back in 1999.

The 49-year-old man had been living with distant relatives in Santa Rosa when he moved to Harlingen.

Court records show that Santa Rosa police found Perez after learning he is a patient at the Texas Tropical Behavioral Center where he’s being treated for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

Perez remains in custody at the Cameron County Jail under a $10,000 dollar bond.