BOISE – Clyde Melvin Priest, III, 37, of Nampa, Idaho, pleaded guilty today in United States District Court in Boise to failure to register as a sex offender, U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced. Priest is required to register under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) by virtue of his 2002 federal conviction for the crime of possessing child pornography in the District of Minnesota.

According to the plea agreement, on February 3, 2011, after Priest failed to comply with registration requirements, the Canyon County prosecuting attorney charged him with failure to register as a sex offender, a violation of Idaho State law. Priest pled guilty and was sentenced on May 2, 2011. According to the plea agreement, after Priest was released from the Canyon County Jail on August 27, 2011, he failed to report to his probation officer at the Idaho Department of Correction, Division of Community Corrections, as instructed, and was listed as a fugitive. Priest was arrested by U.S. Marshals in Olalla, Washington, on February 23, 2012.

The charge carries a maximum punishment of up to ten years in prison, a fine up to $250,000, and a minimum term of five years up to lifetime supervised release.

Sentencing is set for July 17, 2012, , before Chief U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill at the federal courthouse in Boise.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Marshals Service and the Idaho Sex Offender Watch Task Force.

The Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, passed by Congress in 2006, requires sex offenders to register and keep their registration current in each jurisdiction where they reside, are employed or are students. Violations of SORNA can be prosecuted in federal court.