FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
AUSA VICKIE E. LEDUC or
MARCIA MURPHY at 410-209-4885
November 19, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MAN SENTENCED FOR FAILING TO REGISTER AS A SEX OFFENDER
Greenbelt, Maryland - U.S. District Judge Roger W. Titus sentenced Gerald Harvey, age 42, of Silver Spring, Maryland, today to 27 months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release for failure to register as a sex offender in Maryland and falsifying his registration in Indiana, a violation of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA).
The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein and Maryland U.S. Marshal Johnny Hughes.
“Previously convicted sex offenders who fail to comply with state registration requirements may face criminal prosecution under federal law,” said U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein.
According to court documents, on March 2, 2002, Harvey was sentenced to six years in prison in Marion County, Indiana for a child sex offense. As part of his plea agreement, Harvey acknowledged that he would be required to register as a sex offender based on this conviction. Upon his release from prison in 2004, Harvey lived in Indiana and registered as a sex offender. He then moved to Maryland and on August 17, 2009, obtained employment at the University of Maryland in College Park. On his resume and application, Harvey listed his home address as Silver Spring, Maryland.
Harvey admitted that on August 21, 2009, he updated his Indiana registration as a sex offender, falsely indicating that he continued to reside in Indiana. He failed to provide any information concerning his employment or residence in Maryland, nor did he ever register as a sex offender in Maryland. Harvey admitted that he knew that for ten years from the date of his conviction he was required to register his residence, place of employment and location of attended schools, including updating his registration within three days of an address change.
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 exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov. Details about Maryland’s program are available at www.justice.gov/usao/md/Safe-Childhood/index.html.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended the U.S. Marshal Service_ for their work in the investigation. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Special Assistant U.S. Attorney LisaMarie Freitas and Assistant U.S. Attorney Stacy Dawson Belf, who prosecuted the case.