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Press Release

Duck Valley Man Sentenced For Failing To Register As Sex Offender

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Idaho

BOISE — Martin Daniel Atkins, Jr., 30, of Owyhee, Nevada, was sentenced today to 30 months in federal prison followed by five years of supervised release for failure to register as a sex offender, and for violating his supervised release on a prior conviction for the same offense, U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced. He pleaded guilty on July 17, 2013.

According to court documents, Atkins was required to register as a sex offender because of his guilty plea in 2005 to two counts of sexual abuse of minor, involving children from the Duck Valley Indian Reservation. Upon his release from prison, Atkins began the registration process and reported that he was living at his stepmother's home on the Idaho side of the Duck Valley reservation. Investigators learned that Atkins had moved to Nevada and was later employed in Arizona and had failed to notify authorities. He pleaded guilty in 2011 to failing to register under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act and was sentenced to 21 months in prison.

Upon his release from custody in January 2013, Atkins returned to the Duck Valley reservation. He registered as a sex offender with the Elko County Sheriff’s Office in Nevada and reported that he would be living with his aunt. In late February 2013, federal probation officers went to Atkins’ aunt’s home and learned that he had not stayed there since he returned to the reservation. U.S. Marshals Service located Atkins in March and arrested him. He had been living at another location on the Duck Valley Indian Reservation.

Atkins was prosecuted for violating the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), which was passed by Congress in 2006. The Act requires sex offenders to register and keep their registration current in each jurisdiction where they reside, are employed or are students. Violations of SORNA are prosecuted in federal court.

Updated December 15, 2014

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