Man Sentenced to 21 Months in Federal Prison for Failing to Register as a Sex Offender

LUBBOCK, Texas — Joe Coleman, 47, was sentenced today by Senior U.S. District Judge Sam R. Cummings to 21 months in federal prison, following his guilty plea in September 2015 to one count of failing to register as a sex offender, announced U.S. Attorney John Parker of the Northern District of Texas.

Coleman was sentenced on November 30, 2000, to 21 months in prison after he was convicted of Criminal Sexual Conduct in the Second Degree, in Anoka County, Minnesota.  The conviction related to a sexual offense against a 10-year-old female.  Coleman was released from prison on October 24, 2001, but thereafter was incarcerated during his conditional release period and served time in prison until June 23, 2009.                          

In 2009, Coleman came to Texas, and he has been residing in the Lubbock area since that time.  He has also been employed in Lubbock for much of the time and was employed in Lubbock at the time of his arrest on July 23, 2015.

Based on this conviction, Coleman was a sex offender under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) and was required to register as a sex offender under state and federal law.  Coleman, however, never registered in Texas as a sex offender, as required by the SORNA and he never appeared in person in any jurisdiction in which he was required to register to inform that jurisdiction of the changes in his status, as required, after he moved to Texas. 

The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative, which was launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice, to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.  Led by U.S. Attorney’s Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals, who sexually exploit children, and identify and rescue victims.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/.  For more information about Internet safety education, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/ and click on the tab “resources.”

The U.S. Marshals Service investigated the case and Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven M. Sucsy was in charge of the prosecution.

# # #