By CHRISTINE HAUSER • SEPT 6, 2017

As Hurricane Irma barreled down on his state, a county sheriff in Florida said on Wednesday that law enforcement authorities would check the identities of people who turn up at shelters and take to jail anyone found to have an active arrest warrant.

“If you go to a shelter for Irma and you have a warrant, we’ll gladly escort you to the safe and secure shelter called the Polk County Jail,” Grady Judd, the sheriff in Polk County, announced in a series of messages on Twitter.

“We cannot and we will not have innocent children in a shelter with sexual offenders & predators,” the sheriff said, adding law enforcement officers would be posted at shelters to check IDs.

“If you have a warrant, turn yourself in to the jail — it’s a secure shelter.”

The sheriff’s office made the announcements as residents of Florida on Wednesday stocked up or made preparations to evacuate ahead of Hurricane Irma, which on Wednesday battered the northeast Caribbean and was moving on to the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.

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