New Orleans Man, Michael Larrieu, Sentenced For Failing To Register As Sex Offender

MICHAEL LARRIEU, age 25, a resident of New Orleans, Louisiana, was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Judge Jay C. Zainey to twelve months in prison for failing to register as a sex offender, announced U.S. Attorney Kenneth Allen Polite, Jr.

According to documents filed in federal court, in 2007, LARRIEU pled guilty to possession of child pornography in U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana.  LARRIEU was sentenced to forty (40) months imprisonment followed by a life time of supervised release.  As a result of LARRIEU=s conviction, he was required to register pursuant to the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act. 

On February 27, 2013, LARRIEU absconded from the Volunteers of America Re-Entry Residential Center in New Orleans where he was completing an unrelated sentence.  Approximately a month later, on March 25, 2013, the United States Marshals Service (“USMS”) located and arrested LARRIEU in Laredo, Texas.  LARRIEU admitted to the USMS at the time of his arrest that he knew he had a duty to register as a sex offender.  LARRIEU told the USMS he did not notify or request information on sex offender laws in Texas because he knew he was a fugitive and because he did not want to go back to prison.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.  Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc.  For more information about internet safety, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources.”

The case was investigated by the United States Marshals Service and prosecution of this case is being handled by Project Safe Childhood Coordinator and Strike Force Chief, Assistant U. S. Attorney Brian M. Klebba.