Man Sentenced To 33 Months In Prison And 30 Years Of Supervised Release For Failing To Register As A Sex Offender

Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Neil DeSousa, United States Marshal, and Ric L. Bradshaw, Sheriff, Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, announced that Ernesto Cedillo, 25, of Palm Springs, FL, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Kenneth Ryskamp to 33 months in prison, to be followed by 30 years of supervised release following his guilty plea to the charge of failing to register under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), in violation of Title 18, U.S.C. § 2250(a).

According to court filings, Cedillo was convicted in Indiana for sexually molesting a 13-year old girl in July 2005. Cedillo pled guilty and was convicted and sentenced in February 2007 to six years in prison in Indiana for that charge, with four years of the sentence suspended. He was released in Indiana and then was found here in Florida in 2008 and sent back to Indiana because he failed to register as a sex offender in either state, pursuant to SORNA. Based upon the Indiana failure to register Cedillo was jailed in Indiana again. He was released in June 2011 and sometime after that he absconded. Indiana authorities did not know his whereabouts and he failed to register under SORNA in Indiana again.

Sometime between June 2011 and September of 2012, Cedillo relocated to Palm Beach County and again failed to register with local police and was arrested by the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office on September 6, 2012. Following his arrest, Cedillo admitted to having fled Indiana without registering because he knew there were warrants out for him up there. He also admitted traveling to Florida and failing to register here, even though he knew he was required to do so under the law.

Mr. Ferrer commended the U.S. Marshal Service and the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office for their work on the case. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Lauren Jorgensen.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.