Caulfield man charged with failure to register

William Scott Williams, 47, of Caulfield is facing charges in Ozark County for failure to register as a sex offender. He faces the charges after a federal probation officer contacted the Ozark County Sheriff’s Department.

According to a probable cause statement filed by Ozark County Deputy Josh Sherman, the probation officer said they had conducted an electronic search within the conditions of Williams’ federal probation under reasonable suspicion of unregistered social media accounts.

The search found several alleged violations of accounts not registered with the sex offender registry including two emails, a SnapChat account, WhatsApp, TikTok, YouTube and a Samsung Galaxy smartphone. Sherman confirmed that during Williams’ latest sex offender registration date of Nov. 1, 2024, none of the accounts were listed or registered with the Ozark County registry.

According to the statement, the federal probation officer said they seized the smartphone because of messages between Williams and a 13-year-old relative. Williams also allegedly admitted to having possession of the phone for a significant portion of his probation. According to the officer, Williams is four years into to his probation.

The U.S. Federal Courts are in the process of reviewing the case and handling Williams within their courts. Williams may also face additional charges.

Williams was arrested on Feb. 12 and held on a $1,000 cash-only bond. He made bail and was released March 3. He is scheduled to appear back in court for a plea hearing or trial setting before Associate Judge Raymond Gross at 9 a.m. March 11. 

The underlying case which requires him to register as a sex offender was a 2015 conviction of distributing child pornography. The registry says he was 37 at the time, and the victim was “female/1-17.”