A convicted sex offender who previously violated federal probation in Ventnor is back in jail after failing to register under Megan's Law.
David Raza, 47, was arrested last Thursday, after several attempts to get in contact with him failed, Assistant Prosecutor Alexandria Peters said during a detention hearing Wednesday.
Raza has been a Megan's Law offender since a conviction in Florida in two cases from 1995 and 1999, in which he offered a 12-year-old girl money and jewelry for sex, and assaulted a mentally disabled female, according to his Megan's Law registry page.
He has been in and out of jail since that time, including 151-month sentence to federal prison for robbing two banks in Enterprise, Ala., in 2007. He was in Ventnor by the time authorities caught up with him in 2009.
Raza wound up back in federal custody in May 2021, after a Ventnor police saw him riding down Surrey Avenue on a bike, while pulling another. It turned out, they both were stolen, BreakingAC reported at the time.
It also turned out he was wanted by the U.S. Marshals Service after being kicked out of at least two sober living homes, and a detox center.
He was sentenced to 14 months in federal prison June 9, 2021, then given 10 months supervised release, federal records show.
The supervised release did not last long, as Raza was not at the Egg Harbor Township sober living home he gave probation.
He was again arrested in Ventnor on a fugitive warrant, sentenced to 14 months in federal prison Oct. 19, 2022.
Raza was released from federal prison Nov. 2, 2023.
He was arrested at least five times last year, including an Oct. 26 charge of stealing a package off a porch in Ventnor.
Raza was charged Feb. 27 of this year with shoplifting, and released on a summons. He then failed to appear in court, records show.
He then could not be reached by phone or letter at the address he had listed on his Megan's Law registry, until he was found last week in Ventnor, and arrested.
Defense attorney John Bjorklund told the judge Wednesday that the Marion Avenue address in Ventnor now listed on Raza's public registry is his confirmed address.
The photo on Raza's Megan's Law registry page is clearly not up to date.While it may be an updated address, the photo clearly is not. It shows Raza — who now has short hair — with hair past his shoulders and looking much younger than he appeared via video from the jail for the detention hearing.
Raza has a full-time job with a local construction company, Bjorklund told Judge Dorothy Garrabrant.
That was not enough for her to release him.
"I got a job," Raza told the judge after she made her decision.
He told her that "I forgot that I had to renew it" of his Megan's Law address, but she told him not to talk about the case.
The judge moved his new charge to be heard Friday, when there already was a court date for the pending shoplifting case.
"Let's see if we can get these all resolved for you on Friday," she said.
"Is it possible I can get out on Friday?" he asked.
"You'll have to talk to your public defender on Friday," she replied.
"Judge, I need a chance. I ain't no bad guy," Raza said.
He will remain in the Atlantic County Justice Facility pending the outcome of the case.
