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Killer of cellmates says 'there's one less child molester on the streets'

Posted at 10:20 AM, Feb 02, 2018
and last updated 2018-02-02 14:20:42-05

MARIANA, Fla. (AP) — Florida authorities say an inmate who killed his cellmate last month while awaiting trial for killing another cellmate in 2015 is now in solitary confinement.

The News Herald reports 21-year-old Frederick Patterson III said he killed his 82-year-old cellmate Arthur Williams on Jan. 15, and told correctional officers that "there's one less child molester on the streets."

Patterson, a convicted burglar, was sentenced Thursday to life in prison for killing 45-year-old Scott Collinsworth, a convicted robber, in the Apalachee Correctional Institution.

Patterson now faces a first-degree murder charge. Williams, who allegedly tried to lure a 9-year-old boy into his car, had been ruled incompetent 10 days earlier and was being held in the Jackson County Correctional Facility awaiting transfer to a mental facility.