Man Sentenced to Community Control and Probation for Failing to Register as a Sex Offender

Richard Steven Lopez, 26, has been sentenced to community control and probation for not registering as a sex offender. 

In 2013, Lopez was convicted of aggravated sexual assault against a child six or younger out of Bell County, Texas. Lopez was 14 years old when he was convicted. 

In October 2021, Lopez moved to Gainesville. 

Lopez is required to provide his social media accounts when he registers as a sex offender. When Lopex was completing the registration process in October 2024, an Alachua County Department of Jail (DOJ) employee observed him scrolling through Facebook. Lopez did not include his Facebook account when he was filling out his sex offender registration form. 

Lopez reportedly told the DOJ employee that he would be “moving to Georgia in the near future and would not have an address to provide for Georgia.”

Lopez additionally did not provide his vehicle registration on numerous sex offender registration forms in 2024.

In November 2024, Lopez was arrested on four counts of failing to report his vehicle information and one count of failing to register a social media account. 

In February, Lopez was charged with failing to register as a sex offender after he was found to have not completed sex offender registration in January.

On Tuesday, the State Attorney’s Office dropped all of Lopez’s charges except for his count of not registering as a sex offender. 

On Thursday, Lopez was found guilty of failing to register as a sex offender and sentenced to six months of community control followed by 12 months of probation.