A registered sex offender wanted on felony warrants in two states was arrested in Palm Coast roughly 12 hours after moving into a home on Perthshire Lane, after a neighbor's tip led deputies to surround the property and force him out with a K-9 unit. Scott Granden, 40, of St. Louis, Missouri, is now held without bond at the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility, facing new charges of resisting an officer without violence and violation of probation.
According to the Tampa Free Press, a resident reported suspicious activity at the Perthshire Lane address, prompting the Flagler County Sheriff's Office to respond. Deputies determined the man inside was Granden, who was carrying active out-of-county fugitive warrants, including Missouri warrants for failing to register as a sex offender and for leaving the scene of a vehicle crash, plus a felony battery warrant out of Jacksonville. Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly said, “If you're a fugitive, Flagler County is the wrong place to hide.”
Deputies Surround the House, K-9 Forces Him Out
Three specialized FCSO divisions, the Fugitive Apprehension Unit, the Problem Area Crime Enforcement (P.A.C.E.) Unit, and the K-9 Unit, surrounded the Perthshire Lane home, according to the sheriff's office's own account of the operation. Deputies issued multiple orders for Granden to exit, and when he did not comply, they breached the front door. The station's report notes that Granden ultimately walked out of the house after hearing commands and barking from a K-9 handler, surrendering without further resistance.
Sheriff Staly framed the outcome bluntly, remarking that “the only good decision he made was to avoid having a K-9 take a bite out of crime,” per the Flagler County Sheriff's Office. The tip that set the operation in motion came through the agency's See Something, Say Something community initiative, according to WNDB - News Daytona Beach, underscoring how quickly a single resident's call turned into a multi-unit response in the P-Section neighborhood.
A Federal Conviction Tied to a 2021 Flight
Granden's record traces back to a 2022 federal conviction for abusive sexual contact, stemming from an incident aboard a commercial flight in which he was intoxicated and made unwanted sexual contact with a female passenger. Court records reviewed by Justia Law show he pleaded guilty under federal statute and was sentenced to 21 months in prison followed by one year of supervised release. Those release conditions reportedly included mandatory periodic polygraph examinations, plethysmograph testing, and a prohibition on viewing sexually explicit materials.
Missouri treats registry non-compliance seriously: under Section 589.425 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri, failing to comply with sex offender registration requirements is generally a Class E felony carrying up to four years in prison, according to the Missouri Secretary of State. Florida law required Granden to register with the local sheriff's office within 48 hours of establishing residence in the state, per Brancato Law Firm, P.A., but his outstanding felony warrants in Missouri and Jacksonville meant deputies were authorized to move on him immediately once his location was confirmed, well before that registration window closed.
Part of a Broader Pattern in Flagler County
This is not the first time Flagler County deputies have moved fast on a high-risk offender soon after arrival. In June, deputies arrested another registered sexual predator in Palm Coast less than 12 hours after his release from prison, after GPS monitoring tracked him walking toward a former victim's residence, as Hoodline previously reported. Granden was booked into the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility in Bunnell, a jail Sheriff Staly has nicknamed the Green Roof Inn in past arrest announcements.
What happens next for Granden remains unresolved. He is currently held without bond in Flagler County on the resisting and probation violation charges, while the Missouri warrants for registry non-compliance and leaving the scene of a crash, along with the Jacksonville felony battery warrant, still stand in their respective jurisdictions. It is not yet clear which agency will pursue extradition once the local case is addressed.
