Saratoga County Man Sentenced to 18 Months for Failing to Update His Sex Offender Registration

ALBANY, NEW YORK – Jonathon Rule, age 28, of Moreau, New York, was sentenced today to 18 months in prison for failing to update his sex offender registration.

The announcement was made by United States Attorney Grant C. Jaquith and David L. McNulty, United States Marshal for the Northern District of New York.

Senior United States District Judge Gary L. Sharpe also sentenced Rule to 5 years of supervised release, to begin following his term of imprisonment.

Rule was charged with violating the federal Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (“SORNA”), which requires a convicted sex offender to register, and keep that registration current, wherever he or she resides. 

As part of his guilty plea, Rule admitted that he was convicted of criminal sexual conduct in the first degree in Michigan, which required him to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.  Rule further admitted that he moved from Michigan to Moreau, New York, in January 2016, and lived there for approximately 2 years prior to being arrested by the New York State Police, without ever registering in New York or updating his registration in Michigan.

This case was investigated by the United States Marshals Service Sex Offender Investigation Branch, the New York State Police, the Saratoga County District Attorney’s Office, and the Saratoga County Sheriff’s Office, and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Emmet O’Hanlon.

This case is prosecuted as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse.  Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as identify and rescue victims.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc.