TUPELO — A convicted sex offender has been charged with sexual battery and other crimes after using a vehicle with flashing lights to stop women in traffic and abducting one at knifepoint, authorities say.
Louis Winston Scott, 44, of Pontotoc was arrested Monday and charged with attempted kidnapping, Lee County Sheriff Jim Johnson said.
One woman escaped about 1:30 a.m. Saturday in Lee County and another woman was attacked a short time later in a nearby county, authorities said. The woman in Lee County accelerated her car and escaped after the man stopped her and threatened her with a knife, WTVA-TV reported .
Scott is charged in Union County with kidnapping, attempted armed robbery and three counts of sexual battery after a woman there was pulled over and abducted at knifepoint, Union County Sheriff Jimmy Edwards said.
Edwards told The Associated Press on Tuesday that Scott did not have a badge and will not be charged in Union County with impersonating a law enforcement officer. Such a charge would be a misdemeanor, Edwards said, while the other charges Scott faces are felonies.
It was not immediately clear whether Scott is represented by an attorney.
The Mississippi sex offender registry shows Scott was convicted in 2000 of sexual battery and kidnapping. He was released on probation about three months ago, the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal reported.
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