East St. Louis Man Sentenced For Failing To Register As A Sex Offender

Willie Watson, 38, of East St. Louis, IL, was sentenced this morning in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois to 18 months in federal prison, followed by 5 years of supervised release, on one count of Failure to Register as a Sex Offender, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, Stephen R. Wigginton, announced today.

Evidence showed that Watson was convicted of Criminal Attempt to Commit Rape of a Child in Tennessee in 1999. Due to that conviction, Watson was required to register as a sex offender. Watson last registered as a sex offender on October 15, 2012, in the state of Tennessee, but then moved to East St. Louis, Illinois, and failed to register as a sex offender once in Illinois. On November 15, 2014, he arrested by the Fairview Heights Police Department.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Marshals Service and the Fairview Heights Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Laura Reppert.