News Release
U.S. Department of Justice
United States Attorney
District of Rhode Island
December 10, 2008
Sex offender is sentenced to prison for failing to register
after moving to Rhode Island from Massachusetts
A federal judge today sentenced Michael DiTomasso to 30 months in prison for failing to register as a sex offender after moving from Milford, Massachusetts, to Woonsocket last year. DiTomasso is the first offender sentenced in Rhode Island under a two-year old federal law that requires sex offenders to register after moving from one state to another or taking a job in another state.
United States Attorney Robert Clark Corrente announced the sentence, which Chief U.S. District Court Judge Mary M. Lisi imposed in U.S. District Court, Providence.
DiTomasso, 36, pleaded guilty in June. At the plea hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Milind Shah said the government could prove that DiTomasso was convicted in Massachusetts in 1995 of sex offenses involving minors under 16 and 14 years of age. As a result, he was required to register in Massachusetts as a sex offender. In 2007, DiTomasso moved to Woonsocket and, under the federal Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), was required to register in Rhode Island as a sex offender.
In March 2007, Woonsocket Police Officer William Coupe advised DiTomasso that he was required to register with Woonsocket Police. DiTomasso, who lived within walking distance of Woonsocket Police headquarters, failed to do so, and Woonsocket Police arrested him about a week later.
Subsequently, the U.S. Marshals Service began an investigation and, in October 2007, deputy Marshals arrested DiTomasso on a federal complaint charging violation of SORNA, which was enacted as part of the Adam Walsh Child Protection Act of 2006.
DiTomasso pleaded guilty in Worcester in 1995 to rape and abuse of a child under 16 and indecent assault of a child under 14.
Contact: 401-709-5032 Thomas.connell@usdoj.gov