By Antoinette Milienos For Daily Mail Australia
05:52 21 Jun 2023, updated 06:09 21 Jun 2023
- Warren Wright arrested near Warrnambool, Victoria
- Wight, 49, aimed to raise money for mental health
- He used Facebook to ask for places to stay on his walk
A registered sex offender who claimed to be on a charity walk to raise money for mental health has been arrested for failing to inform police of his whereabouts.
Warren ‘Wazza’ Wright, was arrested near Warrnambool, about 270km south-west of Melbourne, on Monday during his fundraiser trek across Victoria.
Wright used his public Facebook page to ask for accommodation as he made his way across the state – at one stage even staying at a woman’s house for two nights before she discovered his criminal past.
The 49-year-old was charged with four counts of failing to comply with his reporting obligations as a registered sex offender.
Wright was placed on the sex offenders register for eight years after he was convicted in 2020 of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl in a caravan park in Mildura.
He claimed during his walk he was affiliated with R U OK? and Beyond Blue; however, both charities confirmed last week they did not have any connection with him.
Wright faced Warrnambool Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday and made no application for bail.
Willaura local Wendy Seggie believes ‘justice has been served’ after she let Wright sleep on her couch for two nights from June 5 without knowing he was a registered sex offender.
Ms Seggie allowed him to sleep on the couch while her six-year-old granddaughter and two daughters, aged 19 and 20, were also living in her house.
‘When he left there was something still bothering me about him and that’s when I found the post [online] about what he had done in Mildura,’ she told the Herald Sun.
‘I feel sick and so violated that a person on the sex offenders register can just go and stay wherever they like and not have to inform people of their history.
‘I have to live with this every day knowing I put my family at risk of harm… I constantly feel sick knowing I had him in my home. It’s absolutely horrifying.’
Ms Seggie said she felt some ‘relief’ knowing Wright was behind bars, and no longer hides inside her home out of fear he could return.
Wright was allegedly seen loitering around the Hamilton area over the past week asking residents if he could stay with them.
Locals who were aware of his criminal history shared their encounters on social media and kept a record tracking his movements.
He was allegedly seen at the front gate of Monivae College on June 15 and then early the following day at Hamilton skate park before he was removed from both locations.
Wright was remanded in custody and will appear in court on June 26.