Sex Offender Detained for Allegedly Violating SORNA

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Byron Deweldon, 45, of Warwick, has been ordered detained in federal custody on a criminal complaint charging him with failing to register as a sex offender, in violation of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA).

It is alleged in court documents that Deweldon failed to notify the Warwick Police Department or others of an address change after leaving his Warwick home on September 19, 2015, and traveling to locations in California, Florida, Maryland, Connecticut, Maine and Pennsylvania, all of which have Sex Offender registry statutes. Deweldon has a valid, non-expiring requirement that he register as a sex offender.

Deweldon’s arrest and detention is announced by United States Attorney Peter F. Neronha, U.S. Marshal Jamie A. Hainsworth and Warwick Police Chief Colonel Stephen M. McCartney.

According to court records, Deweldon was convicted in May 1995, in Rhode Island Superior Court, on three counts of second degree molestation; in May 1995, in Massachusetts, of indecent assault and battery on a child under the age of 14; in Rhode Island state court in April 2004, of third degree sexual assault; and in 2008, Deweldon was civilly committed by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as a danger to the public. He was released on December 18, 2014, and moved into a family member’s home in Warwick.

Deweldon was arrested upon his return to Rhode Island last week by members of the U.S. Marshal’s SORNA Task Force, the U.S. Marshals and the Warwick Police Department.

SORNA provides a comprehensive set of federal standards for sex offender registration and notification in the United States through the nationwide network of sex offender registration and notification programs. Additionally, SORNA requires registered sex offenders to register and keep their registration current in each jurisdiction in which they reside, work, or go to school, and to make periodic in-person appearances to verify and update their registration information.

A criminal complaint is merely an allegation and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is entitled to a fair trial in which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney John P. McAdams.

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Jim Martin (401) 709-5357

email: USARI.Media@usdoj.gov

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