DECATUR — An accused phantom Decatur landlord who also turned out to be a sex offender guilty of failing to register with police is now being housed in prison.

Loroy L. Turner, 53, admitted a charge of the unlawful failure to register as a sex offender when he appeared in Macon County Circuit Court. Sex offenders must regularly register their address and other personal details with their local police department; Turner is classed as a sexual predator and required to register for the rest of his life.

Turner was also charged with two counts of theft related to him acting as a landlord, and collecting rents, for several Decatur homes that he did not own.

In a plea deal with the Macon County State’s Attorney's Office, prosecutors agreed not to prosecute those charges and both counts were dropped when Turner appeared in court July 27.

But in sentencing him to five years in prison on the sex offender registration offense, Judge James Coryell noted that “the defendant agrees to a restitution amount in the sum of $17,040.32 in other matters.”

That is a reference to the amount Turner is alleged to have stolen in the landlord scam. Decatur police said it dates to January, when Turner agreed to collect rents for another legitimate landlord but failed to hand them over.

He also is accused of offering to rent a house, and collecting a prospective tenant’s $600 payment, even though the house was owned by someone else and he had no connection to the property. Police said the tenant showed up and found the house locked with a Realtor key box on the front door and a “for sale” sign in the yard.

A sworn affidavit signed by Detective Timothy Wisniewski said when the tenant tried to track Turner down, he learned he was being held in the Macon County Jail. He had been arrested Feb. 13 for violating the sex offender registry rules.

Turner’s sex offender conviction dates to when he was 32 and was found guilty of the aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a victim under the age of 17, as well as unlawful restraint.

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