United States Attorney Richard B. Roper
Northern District of Texas

CONVICTED SEX OFFENDER SENTENCED TO 21 MONTHS
FOR FAILING TO REGISTER AS SEX OFFENDER

LUBBOCK, Texas — A convicted sex offender, Robert Lee Whaley, 41, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Sam R. Cummings to 21 months for failing to register as a sex offender, announced U.S. Attorney Richard B. Roper of the Northern District of Texas. Whaley, formerly of Wichita, Kansas, was arrested in Slaton, Texas, on March 5, 2008, by a Deputy U.S. Marshal. He has been in custody since his arrest.

In June 1999, Whaley was convicted of aggravated sexual battery and was sentenced to 57 months in prison. He was required to register as a sex offender for life. In documents filed in Court, Whaley admitted that he moved from Kansas to Texas between April 2007 and March 2008 and did not register as a sex offender or update his sex offender registration in Kansas or Texas.

When the Deputy U.S. Marshal found and interviewed Whaley on March 5, 2008, Whaley advised that he was traveling with friends and was living with them in their motor home. He stated he had been in Texas for at least eight days, coming to Texas from New Mexico, where he also had been traveling from city to city. He admitted that he had been convicted of aggravated sexual assault, kidnaping and rape, had received a six-year sentence, and as a result of the conviction, was considered a sex offender.

When Whaley moved in interstate commerce by traveling into Texas from another state, he was out of compliance with the registration requirements of the State of Kansas, after having been convicted of a sex offense. Whaley had been out of compliance with the requirements of Kansas law since at least September 1, 2007, and Whaley did not ever register as a sex offender in the State of Texas, nor did he advise authorities in Kansas that he had left that state that he had traveled to Texas.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, 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 identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov

U.S. Attorney Roper commended the investigative efforts of the U.S. Marshals Service and the Slaton, Texas, Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven M. Sucsy of the Lubbock, Texas, U.S. Attorney’s Office.

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