Rock Rapids Man Pleads Guilty to Failure to Register as a Sex Offender

A man who failed to register as a sex offender pled guilty on May 17, 2024, in federal court in Sioux City.

Melvin Geovani Aguilar-Lopez, age 31, from Rock Rapids, Iowa, was convicted of one count of Failure to Update his Registration as required by the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2250(a).  

In a plea agreement, Aguilar-Lopez admitted that he was required to register and update his registration under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act by reason of a conviction of Sexual Abuse in the Third Degree in the Iowa District Court for Lyon County Criminal No. FECR005748 on December 9, 2016.  Aguilar-Lopez admitted he knew he needed to update his sex offender registration to reflect the fact he had been living in Rock Rapids for approximately 5 months and working in Lyon County for approximately 2 months.  

Sentencing before United States District Court Chief Judge Leonard T. Strand will be set after a presentence report is prepared.  Aguilar-Lopez was taken into custody by the United States Marshal after the guilty plea and will remain in custody pending sentencing.  Aguilar-Lopez faces a term of imprisonment of between 15 to 21 months, a $250,000 fine, and 5 years of supervised release following any imprisonment.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kevin Fletcher and was investigated by the Lyon County Sheriff’s Department, the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigations (Sex Offender Unit) and the United States Marshal’s Service. 

Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl. 

The case file number is 24-CR-04004.

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