Convicted Sex Offender Pleads Guilty

LUBBOCK, Texas— A Minnesota man, Shannon Lee Callahan, 39, appeared before U.S. District Judge Sam R. Cummings and pleaded guilty to an indictment charging failure to register and update registration as a sex offender.  He faces a maximum statutory penalty of 10 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.  Judge Cummings ordered a presentence investigation report with the sentencing date to be set after the completion of that report.  Today’s announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Sarah R. Saldaña of the Northern District of Texas.

According to documents filed in the case, in 1992, Callahan was sentenced to a five-year term of probation after having earlier pleaded guilty to two counts of criminal sexual conduct in Dakota County, Minnesota.  Based on these convictions, Callahan was considered a sex offender under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), and was required to register as such under state and federal law.  Under Texas law, persons convicted of this offense have a lifetime obligation to register as a sex offender in Texas.

Callahan moved from Minnesota to Big Lake, Texas, in May 2013, but he never registered as a sex offender in Texas, nor did he inform any authorities in Minnesota that he had left his Minnesota residence and had moved to Texas where he had gained employment.

The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative, which was launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice, to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.  Led by U.S. Attorney’s Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals, who sexually exploit children, and identify and rescue victims.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/.  For more information about internet safety education, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/ and click on the tab “resources.”

The investigation was conducted by the U.S. Marshals Service.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven M. Sucsy is in charge of the prosecution.