Boulder Man Sentenced To Federal Prison For Failing To Register As A Sex Offender

DENVER – Douglas Wayne Delling, age 53, of Boulder, Colorado, was sentenced last week by U.S. District Court Judge Robert E. Blackburn to serve 41 months in federal prison for failure to register as a sex offender, U.S. Attorney John Walsh and U.S. Marshal John Kammerzell announced. Following his prison sentence, Judge Blackburn ordered Delling to spend 15 years on supervised release. The defendant appeared at the sentencing hearing in custody, and was remanded at its conclusion.

Delling was first charged by Criminal Complaint on January 30, 2014.  He was indicted by a federal grand jury in Denver on February 10, 2014.  He entered a guilty plea to the indicted charge, failing to register as a sex offender, on July 8, 2014.  He was sentenced on October 16, 2014.

According to court documents, including the stipulated facts contained in the plea agreement, beginning on March 10, 2008, in the state of Arkansas, Delling was required to register under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, as he was a sex offender.  Delling subsequently moved to Colorado without notifying law enforcement officers. When a verification check was conducted by law enforcement officers in Arkansas, they determined that the defendant no longer resided at his registered address. A non-extraditable warrant was issued, and the U.S. Marshal’s Service in Arkansas launched a fugitive investigation.

During the subsequent investigation, the U.S. Marshal’s Service obtained a current telephone number for the defendant. Delling was contacted by phone on October 21, 2013, and informed agents that when he first moved to Colorado he lived in a camp ground in Nederland, Colorado, and worked in Boulder, Colorado.  At the time he was contacted, he stated that he was currently living at a homeless shelter in Boulder, and that he knew he needed to register yet had not because he did not want to go to jail. Delling was informed that he needed to register in Colorado.

Delling was arrested nine days later on October 20, 2013, after neither registering in Colorado nor changing his registration in Arkansas. Records show that Delling had resided in Colorado from at least September 23, 2013 to October 30, 2013. The defendant had been employed with a “Ready to Work” program in Colorado, with which he had falsely reported “no” to questions of “have you been in jail or prison” and “Convicted of a Sex Offense”. The defendant said that he knew he had to register as a sex offender in Colorado but feared being arrested if he registered.

“Sex offenders are required to register in the communities they reside in so that local law enforcement and area residents are aware of their presence,” said U.S. Attorney John Walsh.  “When a sex offender fails to register, no matter the excuse, that person is violating the law by not notifying the authorities or their neighbors of their residence and prior sex conviction.”

            “I am extremely proud of the work of our deputy marshals on this case,” said U.S. Marshal John L. Kammerzell.  “As an agency, we take these cases very seriously with the safety of the community as our highest priority.”

This case was investigated by the U.S. Marshals Service.

Delling was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney David Tonini.