Waterbury Woman Who Failed To Register As A Sex Offender And Violated Supervised Release Is Sentenced

Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that GUITANA JONES, 42, formerly of Waterbury, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Stefan R. Underhill in Bridgeport to approximately one year of imprisonment, time already served, and seven years of supervised release for failing to register as a sex offender and for violating the conditions of her supervised release from a previous federal conviction.  She has been detained since June 10, 2013.

According to court documents and statements made in court, in October 2003, JONES was sentenced in federal court to 120 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for conspiracy and use of an interstate facility to transmit information about a minor.  Also, in June 2007, she was given a concurrent sentence in state court of risk of injury to a minor and conspiracy to commit risk of injury to a minor.  JONES was released from federal prison in May 2010.

As a convicted sex offender, JONES was told that she was required to register and update her registration under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (“SORNA”).  Convicted sex offenders must update their address within five days of any move, re-registering in any state to which they move, and verifying their current address with local law enforcement every 90 days.  Prior to her release on federal supervision, JONES was told that crossing state lines without registering in the new state or notifying Connecticut of her change of address could result in federal prosecution for failure to register.

In September 2011, JONES requested the Court’s permission to move from Connecticut to Florida.  In March 2012, her request was denied and JONES was told that she was not permitted to move to Florida while on federal supervised release.

In May 2013, the U.S. Probation Office learned that JONES had moved to Florida and, at times, had traveled back to Connecticut to avoid detection of her supervised release violation.  JONES also tested positive for cocaine use.  On June 10, 2013, U.S. Marshals arrested JONES for violating her supervised release.

The investigation revealed that, in September 2012, JONES obtained a Florida identification card after providing an address in Miramar, Fla.  She also possessed and used a cellular telephone with a Florida area code while residing in Florida between February and April 2013.  The Florida Sex Registry has no record of JONES ever applying to register as a sex offender. 

On March 5, 2014, JONES pleaded guilty to one count of failure to register as a sex offender, and also admitted that she violated the terms and conditions of her supervised release.

Judge Underhill ordered JONES to serve the first two years of her seven-year term of supervised release in home confinement under GPS or electronic monitoring by the U.S. Probation Office.  JONES also was ordered to register as a sex offender and to abide by several other conditions, including that she have no unsupervised contact with minors under the age of 18. 

JONES, who has related state charges pending in Waterbury Superior Court, was released into the custody of the Waterbury Police Department following today’s court proceeding.

This matter was investigated by the United States Marshals Service and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter S. Jongbloed.

PUBLIC AFFAIRS CONTACT:

U.S. ATTORNEY'S OFFICE
Tom Carson
(203) 821-3722
thomas.carson@usdoj.gov