COEUR D’ALENE – Jason Ray Sijohn, 45, of Plummer, Idaho, pled guilty today in federal court for failing to register as a sex offender, a violation of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced.

According to the plea agreement, Sijohn was found guilty of sexual abuse in 1999 in U.S. District Court in Idaho, and was sentenced to 84 months in prison. Following his release from prison in 2005, Sijohn registered as a sex offender as required by SORNA. In 2008, Sijohn failed to comply with registration requirements and was sentenced in 2009 in Idaho state court to five years probation. In April 2011, authorities learned that Sijohn moved without providing his current address to probation officials. According to the plea agreement, between April and July 12, 2011, the date of his arrest, Sijohn did not have contact with his probation officer and was not living at his address in Plummer. In August 2011, Sijohn admitted in state court that he had moved without notifying authorities.

Sijohn faces up to ten years in prison, a maximum fine of $250,000, and not less than five years of supervised release.

Sentencing is set for June 19, 2012, before U.S. District Judge Edward J. Lodge at the federal courthouse in Coeur d'Alene.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Marshals Service.

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