Waterbury Resident Charged with Violating Federal Sex Offender Registration Law

John H. Durham, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that KURTIS GASKINS, 46, of Waterbury, was arrested today based on an indictment charging him with violating the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA).

On September 25, 2019, a grand jury returned an indictment charging Gaskins with the offense.  Following his arrest by the U.S. Marshals Service this morning, Gaskins appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Sarah A. L. Merriam in New Haven, entered a plea of not guilty to the charge, and was released on a $10,000 bond under GPS monitoring.

In 1992, Gaskins was convicted in Massachusetts of sexual assault offenses.  The indictment alleges that Gaskins failed to register as a sex offender in Connecticut when he moved to Connecticut in November 2018, and failed to update his sex offender registration in Massachusetts.

If convicted of the offense, Gaskins faces a maximum term of imprisonment of 10 years.

U.S. Attorney Durham stressed that an indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt.  A defendant is entitled to a fair trial at which it is the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

This matter is being investigated by the U.S. Marshals Service and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Nathaniel J. Gentile.