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Press Release

Fairview Heights Man Pleads Guilty To Failure To Register As A Sex Offender

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

On December 3, 2013, Otto W. Jean, a fifty-nine year old Fairview Heights, Illinois, man pled guilty in federal district court, in East St. Louis, to failure to register as a sex offender, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, Stephen R. Wigginton, announced today. Jean is scheduled for sentencing on April 7, 2014. He faces a term in prison of up to ten (10) years, a fine up to $250,000, or both, and a term of supervised release of five (5) years to life, and a mandatory special assessment of $100.

The violation occurred between November 2011 and June 2013. Jean was required to register as a sex offender under both Illinois law and the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act because he was convicted of Statutory Sodomy in the 2nd Degree on March 1, 2000, in St. Louis, Missouri. In November 2011, Jean moved from Missouri to Fairview Heights, Illinois. He was aware of his requirements to register as a sex offender in the State of Illinois and to update his registration with the State of Missouri, upon his move to Illinois in November 2011. Jean was contacted by the Fairview Heights Police Department on June 6, 2013, for non-compliance. He admitted to not having registered in Illinois.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. 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 better 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 education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources.”

The case was investigated by the United States Marshals Service and the Fairview Heights Police Department. Daniel T. Kapsak, Assistant United States Attorney prosecuted the case.

Updated February 19, 2015