FL- Dumont: SORNA criminalizes failure to register, not interstate travel

Decision is available in our SO-News Group

1-27-2009 Florida:

In U.S. v. Dumont, No. 08-11187 (Jan 26, 2009), the Court upheld a conviction for failing to register as a sex offender, as required by 18 U.S.C. § 2250(a) of SORNA.

On February 28, 2007, the Attorney General issued a rule stating that SORNA’s registration requirements applied retroactively. This required persons who had traveled in interstate commerce to update their registration. Dumont claimed that this registration requirement did not apply to him because he had traveled two weeks before the Attorney General made SORNA’s registration requirement retroactive.

The Court distinguished U.S. v. Madera, because that case involved a failure to register before the Attorney General’s retroactive rule. Here, Dumont was prosecuted for failing to register after the Attorney General issued his rule. The Court rejected Dumont’s argument that the law should not apply to him because his travel, which triggered the registration requirement, occurred before the Attorney General issued his rule.

The statute does not criminalize travel. It criminalizes failure to register. ..Source.. by Defense Newsletter Blog



Grand juries indict first two South Florida cases charging violation of Adam Walsh Act

6-19-2007 Florida:

MIAMI - R. Alexander Acosta, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Anthony V. Mangione, acting special agent in charge, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and U.S. Marshal Christina Pharo, announced that a federal grand jury in Miami indicted defendant Faisad Nader Palis Friday on charges that he intentionally failed to register as a sex offender in Florida and illegally re-entered the United States. The day before, on June 14, 2007, another federal grand jury in Miami indicted defendant Richard Maurice Dumont, in a separate case, on charges that he intentionally failed to register as a sex offender in Florida.

These charges mark the first indictments in the Southern District of Florida for failure to register as a sex offender, in violation of the Adam Walsh Child Protection Act, which became effective in July 2006.

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According to the criminal complaint affidavit filed against defendant Dumont, Dumont was convicted of second degree child molestation in Woonsocket, Rhode Island on Feb. 23, 2004. The conviction stemmed from a previous incident in which Dumont had fondled the 12-year-old daughter of his former roommate. He ultimately was given a suspended sentence and sentenced to eight (8) years' probation. Due to the nature of this conviction, Dumont was required pursuant to the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act to register as a sex offender in Rhode Island. He further was required to notify law enforcement officials of any change of address and verify that new address both in Rhode Island and in his new residential location. Despite these requirements, in the early part of 2007, Dumont absconded from his probationary supervision in Rhode Island and moved to Big Pine Key, Florida. On March 12, 2007, he informed his probation officer in Rhode Island of both his move and new location in Big Pine Key. As a result of his absconding from supervision, a warrant was issued for Dumont's arrest on May 8, 2007, and he was arrested eight (8) days later at his camper trailer in Big Pine Key. On March 14, 2007, the defendant was ordered detained. ..News Source.. by ICE