United States Attorney James T. Jacks
Northern District of Texas

FRIDAY, MARCH 19, 2010
http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/txn/

MAN ARRESTED IN CARROLLTON, TEXAS, IS
SENTENCED TO FIVE YEARS IN FEDERAL PRISON
FOR FAILING TO REGISTER AS A SEX OFFENDER

DALLAS — At this afternoon’s sentencing hearing for Eric Eugene Hartwell, U.S. District Judge Barbara M.G. Lynn granted the government’s motion for an upward departure and doubled the guideline sentence, sentencing Hartwell to 60 months in prison for failing to register as a sex offender, announced U.S. Attorney James T. Jacks of the Northern District of Texas. Judge Lynn stated at the hearing that the sentencing guidelines in this case were “preposterously low.” Hartwell, 47, of Everett, Washington, who has been in custody since his arrest last year by U.S. Marshals, was also ordered to serve a lifetime of supervised release.

Hartwell pleaded guilty to this offense in November 2009, stipulating in plea papers that between March 24, 2009 and April 2, 2009, he traveled from Washington to Texas and failed to register as a sex offender in Texas. Hartwell had been convicted of a sex offense in Washington.

Testimony at today’s hearing revealed that Hartwell was convicted for failure to register as a sex offender in Washington and sentenced to 26 months. He was released from custody on March 13, 2009, and placed on community supervision, with a condition that he be placed in a halfway house with electronic monitoring. After one week, Hartwell cut off his leg monitor and fled to Texas, failing to register as a sex offender.

Additional testimony today revealed that after the U.S. Marshals Service determined that Hartwell was working in Carrollton, Texas, for Labor Ready, they attempted to apprehend him, but he fled. They then threatened to tase him, at which point Hartwell lay on the ground. When they tried to handcuff him, Hartwell lunged at one of the deputies. Later, at the federal building in Dallas, he tied to slip out of his restraints, and on his way to be booked, he threatened to assault one of the task force officers.

Hartwell has previous convictions of rape of a child, attempted indecent liberties and two separate convictions for failing to register as a sex offender.

 This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice, to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. 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

The case was investigated by the U.S. Marshals Service and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Camille Sparks.

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