New York Man Sentenced For Failing To Register As a Sex Offender

BOSTON – A New York man was sentenced in federal court in Springfield yesterday for failing to register as a sex offender.

Jose Dones, 43, of Schenectady, N.Y., was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Mark G. Mastroianni to two years in prison and seven years of supervised release. In October 2018, Dones pleaded guilty to one count of failure to register as a sex offender. Dones received an additional six months in prison for violating the conditions of supervised release from a 2016 failure to register conviction. Dones has been in custody since his arrest on Jan. 10, 2018.

In 1994, Dones was convicted of second degree rape, and in 2008, he was convicted of forcible touching. As a result, Dones is required to register as a sex offender and has received many notices informing him of his obligation. He has been convicted four times in New York state court of failure to register as a sex offender, and in 2016, he was convicted in federal court in Massachusetts of failing to register as a sex offender. 

In November 2017, Dones was released from a halfway house in Boston, and, while on supervised release in connection with his 2016 federal conviction, he lived in Boston without registering as a sex offender. In December 2017, he moved to Schenectady, N.Y., where he again failed to register.

United States Andrew E. Lelling and John Gibbons, United States Marshal for the District of Massachusetts, made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney Alex J. Grant of Lelling’s Springfield Branch Office prosecuted the case.

The case was 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/.