PINAL COUNTY, Ariz. — A convicted sex offender has been arrested after he allegedly faked his death and assumed a new identity in Mesa.
The Pinal County Sheriff's Office said 50-year-old Benjamin Hollins was taken into custody on May 14 after he was found living in the East Valley under a fake identity.
Hollins was convicted of an offense in California over 20 years ago and ended up living in Arizona City by 2018. PCSO said Hollins re-offended after he tried to molest a 16-year-old and was placed on supervised probation.
Hollins was required to register as a sex offender every year.
In October 2023, a woman filed a report claiming to have witnessed Hollins jump off the bridge at Roosevelt Dam. A body wasn't recovered and Hollins was suspected dead, resulting in his sex offender registration lapsing.
Chandler police began investigating the case and eventually found Hollins living with a family who didn't know about his history, PCSO said.
The sheriff's office said Hollins has been booked for probation violations, failure to appear and a sex offender registration violation.
UP TO SPEED
Catch up on the latest news and stories on the 12News YouTube channel. Subscribe today.
What is the Valley?:
“The Valley” is what locals call the Phoenix Metropolitan Area. It is considered the largest metropolitan area in the Southwest.
The Valley is made up of various major cities other than Phoenix, including:
- Mesa
- Chandler
- Scottsdale
- Tempe
- Glendale
- Surprise
- Peoria
- Gilbert
- El Mirage
- Avondale
- Litchfield Park
- Goodyear
- Buckeye
Whether a city is in the “East Valley” or “West Valley” depends on where it is in relation to Phoenix.
The cities of the Valley have a combined population of 4,845,832 people, according to the 2020 United States Census. This makes it the 11th largest metropolitan area in the country right behind the Boston and Atlanta areas.
How big is Maricopa County?
Maricopa County is the United States’ 4th largest county in terms of population with 4,485,414 people, according to the 2020 Census.
The county contains around 63% of Arizona’s population and is 9,224 square miles. That makes the county larger than seven U.S. states (Rhode Island, Delaware, Connecticut, Hawaii, New Jersey, Massachusetts and New Hampshire).
One of the largest park systems in the nation is also located in Maricopa County. The county has an estimated 120,000 acres of open space parks that includes hundreds of miles of trails, nature centers and campgrounds.
The county’s seat is located in Phoenix, which is also the state capital and the census-designated 5th most populous city in the United States.
The county was named after the Maricopa, or Piipaash, Native American Tribe.