A registered sex offender went from the outhouse, to the courthouse, to the jailhouse Thursday morning.
John Anthony Combs, 61, appeared before General Sessions Judge Ryan J. Moore Thursday for a preliminary hearing for violation of the sex offender registry, and had his case bound over to the Warren County Grand Jury.
The violation charge, one of four counts Combs faced Thursday morning, stemmed from Combs allegedly living in a portable toilet downtown.
According to the original arrest warrant filed by McMinnville Police Officer Maggie Fann, MPD was dispatched to Security Federal’s W. Main St. branch on July 25, after receiving reports of a male suspect living in a rented portable toilet next door to the bank. Fann said she identified the mail as Combs, who is on the sex offender registry due to two counts of rape of a child in 1997 and 1998.
As part of Combs’s status, he is not allowed to set up a residence in the vicinity of a church with a daycare and outdoor playground, the warrant stated, adding he was staying 744 feet from such a location, but is required to be at least 1,000 feet from any facility of that type.
Combs, who is listed as homeless on the Tennessee Sex Offender Registry website, also had a hearing on three counts of violation of probation. He was sentenced to 11 months and 29 days on each violation, sentences which will run consecutively.
In April of this year, Combs pleaded guilty to violation of probation and received a 60-day sentence in jail. He also pleaded guilty to violation of community supervision for life and was sentenced to 11 months and 29 days on supervised probation, plus court costs.