Joseph P. Tyler - Repeat Sex Offender - Child Molester turned man raper

A registered sex offender who served time for first-degree child molestation has been arrested for allegedly raping a man in Waterplace Park on Tuesday evening.

Joseph P. Tyler, 49, of 246 Prairie Ave., in Providence, was charged with first-degree sexual assault after a 25-year-old man told the police Wednesday that he was assaulted in the park between 6 and 7 p.m., according to Maj. Thomas F. Oates III. The man said he knew his assailant as “Jimmy” and that he lived in the Urban League shelter.

He said he had a phone number for Jimmy and police investigator Theodore Michaels had him arrange a meeting in Kennedy Plaza on Wednesday afternoon. Michaels was there and recognized Tyler, whom the investigator checked on weekly because of his offender status.

Court records show that Tyler pleaded no contest in February 1996 to one charge of first-degree child molestation and was sentenced to 30 years, with 13 to serve.

"25% of all sex offenders re-offend within 15 years"

.........Sarah Tofte