New Orleans Man Sentenced to 3 Years in Prison for Failing to Register as Sex Offender

U.S. Attorney Kenneth A. Polite announced that DONALD GEORGE BUTLER, JR., age 52, of New Orleans, was sentenced today after previously pleading guilty to failing to register as sex offender, in violation of federal law.

U.S. District Judge Sarah S. Vance sentenced BUTLER to 37 months imprisonment.

According to court documents, BUTLER was convicted of sexual battery in New Orleans in 1997 and, as a result, was required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.  After being released from prison in 2009, BUTLER moved to Texas without notifying the appropriate authorities.  Consequently, in 2010, BUTLER was charged with, and pleaded guilty to, failing to register as a sex offender in the Western District of Texas.  Upon his release from federal custody in about November 2012, BUTLER moved back to Louisiana without notifying law enforcement authorities in either Texas or Louisiana.  BUTLER lived in Louisiana, without notifying any law enforcement authorities, until he was located by Inspectors with the United States Marshal’s Service in July 2014.    

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 the United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc.  For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources.”

U.S. Attorney Polite praised the work of the United States Marshal’s Service in investigating this matter.  Assistant United States Attorney Jordan Ginsberg is in charge of the prosecution.