FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE	CONTACT: Lauren Horwood
September 12, 2011	PHONE: (916) 554-2706
www.usdoj.gov/usao/cae	usacae.edcapress@usdoj.gov
Docket #: 1:11-cr-00114-OWW

FRESNO, Calif. — United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced that Gary Leverne Mitchell, 73, of Reno, Nev., pleaded guilty today to failing to register or update as a sex offender.

According to the plea agreement, on February 19, 1997, Mitchell was convicted in Lassen County of performing a lewd act upon a child and oral copulation of a person under the age of 16 and was sentenced to eight years in prison and required to register as a sex offender for the remainder of his life.

On August 21, 2010, a multi-agency registration and address verification sweep in Nevada found that Mitchell was no longer residing at the Nevada address on his sex offender registry form. In fact, Mitchell was living in Inyo County and had not updated his registration or registered in Inyo County, in violation of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act. He was arrested on March 19, 2011.

The Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, which was enacted as part of the Adam Walsh Act of 2006, mandates sex offenders to register with the authorities. The sex offender must inform the authorities of each county in which the offender resides, works, and is a student.

This case is the product of an extensive investigation by the United States Marshal's Service. Assistant United States Attorney Jeremy R. Jehangiri is prosecuting the case.

Mitchell is scheduled to be sentenced by United States District Judge Oliver W. Wanger on November 22, 2011. The maximum statutory penalty for this conviction is 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.

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