District Man Sentenced to Six Years in Prison For Failing to Register as Sex Offender and Felony Threats

            WASHINGTON – Azeik Keys, 38, of Washington, D.C., has been sentenced to six years in prison on charges stemming from his failure to register as a sex offender and threats he made to kill the mother of his son, U.S. Attorney Channing D. Phillips and Michael Hughes, U.S. Marshal for the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, announced today.

            Keys was found guilty in June 2016, in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, of failure to register as a sex offender, and felony threats.  He was sentenced on Sept. 15, 2016, by the Honorable Todd E. Edelman.  After his prison term, Keys will be placed on five years of supervised release.

            Keys was convicted in 2004 in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia of first-degree sex abuse, sentenced to a six-year prison term, and ordered to register as a sex offender. He was required to register quarterly for the rest of his life.  In 2013, he was convicted in the District of Columbia of failing to register as a sex offender. He registered the following year, using his parents’ address in Northeast Washington. Despite moving from that residence, he continued to register that address between November 2014 and April 2015 as his own.

            The U.S. Marshals Service began an investigation in January 2015, and Keys’s true residence was ultimately located in Southeast Washington. On April 15, 2015, when Deputy U.S. Marshals entered his house to arrest him, Keys attempted to flee out his bedroom window.  He was apprehended on the scene. Additional evidence linking Keys to the address was found in the defendant’s bedroom.

            In late 2015, while Keys was in jail awaiting trial on charges stemming from this incident, the mother of his young son brought to the government a letter that Keys had sent her from jail threatening to kill her or to have her killed.  Fingerprint and handwriting analysis and recorded calls made by Keys from jail confirmed that Keys sent the letter.

            As part of an overall strategy to combat child exploitation, the U.S. Marshals Service launched a nationwide operation to target sex offenders who violate registration laws by knowingly failing to comply with their sex offender registration requirements.

            In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Phillips and Marshal Hughes commended the work of those who investigated the case from the U.S. Marshals Service, particularly Deputy Marshals William Straw, Justin Bankert, and Jesse Miller.  They also expressed appreciation for the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Michael Ambrosino, Special Counsel for DNA and Forensic Evidence Litigation; Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Danello; Supervisor Security Specialist Michael Hailey; Victim/Witness Advocate Tracey Hawkins; and Paralegal Specialist D'Yvonne Key.  Finally, they commended the work of Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Marando, who was responsible for the initial investigation, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys John Timmer and Sumit Mallick, who secured the indictment and tried the case.