Residents are breathing a sigh of relief Friday after a fugitive sex offender, who eluded police for more than a week, is back behind bars.

According to the New Jersey State Parole Board, Morgan De George cut an electronic monitoring device off his leg on May 21 and ran. De George, a 28-year-old convicted child predator, was supposed to be staying at a home on Kierst Avenue in Parlin.

The state Parole Board?s Fugitive Task Force and U.S. marshals were finally able to track De George to a friend?s place in Elizabeth and arrest him.

The Parole Board?s chairman says the electronic monitoring system for sex offenders is a pilot program in the state. The board is now considering different designs that will be harder to tamper with.