Albuquerque Man Pleads Guilty to Failing to Update Sex Offender Registration

ALBUQUERQUE – Kevin Scott Gordon, 59, of Albuquerque, N.M., pled guilty today in federal court to violating the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA).

SORNA, also known as the Adam Walsh Protection and Safety Act, requires that a convicted sex offender register in each jurisdiction where the offender resides, where the offender is employed, or where the offender is a student, and that the sex offender maintain current registrations.

Gordon was arrested in March 2016, on a criminal complaint charging him with violating SORNA by failing to update his sex offender registration. According to the complaint, Gordon was convicted in May 1983, of rape, sexual deviate conduct, robbery and confinement, and was sentenced to 22 years in prison. In 1983, Gordon escaped from the Indiana State Reformatory, was apprehended in 1990, and remained in custody in Indiana until his release in May 2006.

According to court documents, Gordon was arrested for violating SORNA in Dec. 2007, in Colorado, and has a pattern of non-compliance with registration requirements. On Feb. 22, 2016, law enforcement officers in N.M., received information that Gordon was residing in Albuquerque and was not registered as a sex offender in New Mexico.

Gordon was subsequently indicted on March 23, 2016, and charged with violating SORNA by failing to update his sex offender registration between May 2015 and March 2016, in Bernalillo County, N.M.

During today’s proceedings, Gordon pled guilty to the indictment. In his plea agreement, Gordon admitted that he was convicted in Dec. 1982, of a criminal offense that required him to register under SORNA. Gordon further admitted that before May 15, 2015, he traveled from Colorado to New Mexico, and that he resided in New Mexico between May 2015 and March 2016, but failed to update his sex offender registration in New Mexico as required.

At sentencing, Gordon faces a maximum penalty of ten years in federal prison followed by a minimum of five years to a lifetime of supervised release. Gordon will also be required to register as a sex offender when he completes his prison sentence. Gordon remains in custody pending a sentencing hearing which has yet to be scheduled.

This case was investigated by the U.S. Marshals Service and the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Spindle.