Found out that my friend is a sex offender

Well, to be fair, he (m25) was upfront with it when me (m29) and my girlfriend (f28) met him a few months ago. But, I found out today that he lied as to the reason.

He told us that he was charged with child endangerment because he worked at a daycare and was using cocain after he got off work. He told us that in our state, they make no differentiation between child endangerment and actual sex offenses in terms of who goes on the list.

He's a really nice guy to us that tells a lot of stories, which is where I got suspicious. The things he says are just too wild to be true. So I wondered about what he might be lying about.

I googled his name today and found a news report that said he was caught in a sting that got 12 people total. I found his case number and looked up the court documents.

He was talking to what he believed was a 15 year old girl and arranged to meet her and pay 200$ for sex when he was 23. Then he got Chris Hansen'd.

I'm struggling with this, because we genuinely have enjoyed his company and friendship. I know people make mistakes and some people are capable of change, but I don't know if this is something I can move past.

My girlfriend is sick right now and is at a doctor's appointment, so I haven't told her yet (I found this an hour ago as I'm typing this). I'm going to tell her when I get home from my second job and see what she thinks. Another part to this is that my girlfriend confided in him about some of our relationship issues, which I am upset about, and now we both get the feeling that he's trying to swoop in on her.

I don't know what to do. I hate that I'm wrong about people so often. I keep meeting people that I think are good and cool, but then find shit like this out. It makes me feel so God damn stupid.