Tip leads to arrest of sexual offender

A tip from the public leads to the arrest of a man on four counts of failure to register as a sexual offender – and clears a hit-and-run crash investigation from January.

Detectives with the Panama City Police Department received a tip from our Tip411 service regarding an individual who was a fugitive from Pennsylvania and included a wanted flyer from that state as well as a press release from this department from January regarding a hit-and-run crash investigation.

Detectives along with deputies from the Bay County Sheriff’s Office responded to an address on E 17th Street and located David R. Duane, W/M, 64, who was taken into custody without incident. Through their investigation, detectives learned that Duane was an absconded sexual offender from Pennsylvania and had not registered in the state of Florida since moving here in July of 2021.

Detectives were also able to find a blue 2001 Chevrolet pickup truck that was believed to be involved in a hit-and-run accident on 23rd Street on January 21st. The truck had damage like that observed in surveillance video of the vehicle involved in the crash.

Duane was arrested and charged with four counts of failure to register as a sexual offender, failure to update his address, identification, phone number and vehicle information, leaving the scene of an accident with property damage, tampering with evidence and driving with license suspended or revoked. He was booked into the Bay County Jail.

Anyone with information in this case is asked to call the Panama City Police Department at 850- 872-3100, or they can report tips anonymously via smartphone by downloading the “Panama City PD” Tip411 app from the iOS or Google Play stores.