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

BOSTON – A former Worcester man who was residing in New York pleaded guilty today in federal court in Worcester for failing to register as a sex offender.

George Moriarty, 55, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Timothy S. Hillman, who scheduled sentencing for August 3, 2017.

In October 1994, Moriarty was convicted of indecent assault and battery on a child under the age of 14. The Massachusetts Sex Offender Registry Board classified Moriarty as a level 2 offender. Sometime after April 2013, Moriarty moved to New York without notifying authorities of his residency change, as required by law. In November 2016, he was indicted and subsequently arrested in New York and returned to Massachusetts.

The charging statute provides for a sentence of no greater than 10 years in prison, a minimum of five years up to a lifetime of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based on the United States Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Acting United States Attorney William D. Weinreb and John Gibbons, United States Marshal for the District of Massachusetts, made the announcement today.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Suzanne Sullivan Jacobus of Weinreb’s 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 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/.

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