Florida Trainer Was on Most Wanted List

FORT MYERS, FL -- A personal trainer working at multiple clubs in Florida turned out to be one of Rhode Island’s most wanted fugitives.

Joseph Michael King was arrested last Wednesday in The Omni Club in Fort Myers, FL. King, who is an unregistered sex offender, is not an employee of the club and was not working with a client at the time of his arrest, according to a press release from the Lee County (FL) Sheriff’s Office.

King was convicted in 1999 in Providence, RI, for second-degree sexual assault and sentenced to 10 years in prison, a sentence that was suspended with probation. In January of this year, King was convicted of failing to register as a sex offender and was sentenced to three years’ probation, all suspended with probation. An arrest warrant for King was issued on March 24, but he left Rhode Island after his sentencing and moved to Fort Myers, according to the release. King also had two more outstanding arrest warrants in Rhode Island.

After King’s charges in Lee County, he will be returned to Rhode Island to face his arrest warrants pending an extradition hearing.