Lynyrd Skynyrd Released from Jail as Sex Offender, Posted By Robert Paisola

ST. AUGUSTINE, FL -- The original drummer of Lynyrd Skynyrd has been arrested for failure to register as a sex offender.

Thomas Delmer Pyle, who performed under the name Artimus Pyle, is in jail in St. Johns County.

The investigation began when Pyle renewed his driver's license last month and listed an address in St. Johns County as his address.

Authorities learned Pyle hadn't lived there for many years and that he actually moved to Asheville, North Carolina.

Pyle returned to St. Johns County to speak with detectives. He was arrested. He walked out of jail Tuesday afternoon after posting bond.

"I'm devastated because I have not been trying to deceive anybody," said Pyle, in an interview with First Coast News reporter Jessica Clark.

He survived the plane crash that killed three members of the southern rock band in 1977.

Pyle pled guilty in 1993, in Duval County, on charges of attempted capital sexual battery by an adult on a victim under the age of 12, and principal to lewd and lascivious upon a child under 16 years old.

He was sentenced to eight years probation and designated as a sex offender