Boston Man Pleads Guilty to Failing to Register as a Sex Offender

BOSTON – A Boston man pleaded guilty today in federal court in Boston to failure to register as a sex offender.

Harris Taubman, 57, pleaded guilty to one count of failing to register as a sex offender before U.S. Senior District Court Judge Mark L. Wolf, who scheduled sentencing for March 28, 2018. 

Taubman is required to register as a Level 2 sex offender in Massachusetts based on a 2009 federal conviction for possession and receipt of child pornography.  Taubman last registered his address in September 2016; in March 2017, law enforcement discovered that Taubman had left that address in January 2017 and thereafter failed to update his registration with the Sex Offender Registry Board.

Failing to register as a sex offender carries a sentence of no greater than 10 years in prison, a minimum of five years and up to a lifetime of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000 fine.  Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling and John Gibbons, United States Marshal for the District of Massachusetts, made the announcement today. Assistance was provided by the Boston Police Department.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Anne Paruti, Lelling’s Project Safe Childhood Coordinator and a member of the Major Crimes Unit, is prosecuting the case.

The case is brought as part of Project Safe Childhood.  In 2006, the Department of Justice created Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from exploitation and abuse.  Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the DOJ’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identify and rescue victims.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov/.