Rio Arriba Man Sentenced to Prison for Failing to Update Sex Offender Registration

ALBUQUERQUE – Glenn Gene Fernandez, 47, of Alcalde, N.M., was sentenced today in federal court to a year in prison followed by five years of supervised release for violating the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA).  Fernandez will be required to register as a sex offender when he completes his prison sentence. 

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.

Fernandez was charged in a criminal complaint on Dec. 1, 2015, with violating SORNA by failing to update his sex offender registration.  Fernandez was required to register as a sex offender as a result of a 2004 state conviction in Santa Clara, Calif., for criminal sexual battery involving a restrained person.  Fernandez last complied with his sex offender registration requirements in California in Aug. 2011.  In Nov. 2015, the U.S. Marshals Service received a request to assist the Rio Arriba County Sheriff’s Office with charging Fernandez with a SORNA violation. The U.S. Marshals Services’ investigation revealed that Fernandez had been residing in New Mexico since at least Feb. 2013, and had not registered as a sex offender in New Mexico as required by SORNA.

On March 8, 2016, Fernandez pled guilty to a felony information charging him with failing to update his registration between Feb. 2013 and Dec. 2015 in Rio Arriba County, N.M.  Fernandez entered the guilty plea without the benefit of a plea agreement.

This case was investigated by the U.S. Marshals Service and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Raquel Ruiz-Velez.