A Red Level man, who apparently lied about his identity as a convicted sex offender and was wanted on charges of welfare fraud, was arrested Tuesday.

A Covington County Sheriff’s Office spokesman said the office first received a complaint on Stanley Luther Coons Jr., 50, in June that alleged Coons was, in fact, Randy L. Keefer.

“It was also suspected that he may have been a convicted sex offender with active warrants out for his arrest,” the spokesman said.

The sheriff’s office, in conjunction with River Falls Police Chief Jeff Holland, conducted an investigation into Coons’s identity. Law enforcement officials discovered that Coons had used an alias of “Randy L. Keefer” and had been arrested, prosecuted and convicted in district court of second-degree sexual abuse in 1994.

“Coons had several warrants for his arrest issued under the name ‘Keefer’ for failure to pay/failure to appear on the sexual abuse charge, as well as several bad check warrants,” the spokesman said. “Coons was taken into custody, interviewed and confessed that he had in fact used a false name when he had previously been arrested.”

In addition, Coons had also failed to register as a sex offender after he had been notified of his responsibility under the Alabama Community Notification Act, the spokesman said.

“At the time, the sheriff’s office had even gone through the appropriate steps to notify his neighbors in his River Falls neighborhood,” the spokesman said. “During the last grand jury cycle, Coons had been indicted for first-degree theft of property after an investigation was conducted by the Alabama Attorney General’s Office Welfare Fraud Unit.”

It was then discovered that Coons had moved without notification or clearance from the sheriff’s office.

“When Chief Holland learned Coons was living in a motor home in the parking lot of the Soggy Bottom Tavern in Red Level, he was able to take him into custody,” the spokesman said.

Coons is currently in the Covington County Jail under a $50,000 bond after being charged with first-degree theft of property and failure to provide a timely and accurate address change as a convicted sex offender.

A spokesman for the AG’s office said Coons is accused of stealing nearly $10,000 over a two-year period when he misrepresented his income when he applied for assistance through the state’s food stamp program.