Oklahoma Man Sentenced for Failing to Register as a Sex Offender

MOBILE, AL – Joshua Kahanek, age 44, was sentenced today after entering a guilty plea to one count of Failing to Register as a Sex Offender. Kahanek entered his guilty plea on May 21, 2025.

According to court documents, Kahanek was convicted of Rape in the First Degree in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 2008.  Kahanek was sentenced to 20 years in prison and was released from prison on April 11, 2022.  Kahanek’s conviction required him to register as a sex offender under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA).  Kahanek executed multiple forms with his SORNA officer in Oklahoma throughout 2022-2024 in which he acknowledged his duties and responsibilities to register as a sex offender.  Those forms included his duty to register in any jurisdiction in which he was employed.  On June 7, 2024, the Foley PD and the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office received a report about Kahanek being in the Southern District of Alabama.  Mobile Police Department located Kahanek working on the premises of a Target store in Mobile.  Kahanek was working with a company that would install fiber optic cables at Target stores. Kahanek had not registered as a sex offender in Alabama.

At sentencing, Chief United States District Judge Beaverstock imposed a time-served and a 5-year term of supervised release.  Kahanek had been in custody since his arrest on March 6, 2025.  During his term of supervised release, Kahanek will be subject to sex offender treatment, substance abuse testing and treatment, and mental health treatment.  Kahanek will be required to register as a sex offender. Kahanek was ordered to pay $100 in special assessments.

The United States Marshals Service, Foley Police Department, Mobile Police Department, and the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Kacey Chappelear prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about Internet safety education, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc/publications-resources