St. Louis Man Pleads Guilty To Failure To Register As A Sex Offender

On May 20, 2016, Scott E. Smith, a thirty-one year old St. Louis, MO, man pled guilty in federal district court, in East St. Louis, to Failure to Register as a Sex Offender, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, James L. Porter, announced today. Smith is scheduled for sentencing on August 26, 2016, at which time he faces a maximum potential sentence of 10 years in prison and a fine up to $250,000, 5 years to life supervised release after his release from prison, and a mandatory special assessment of $100.

On January 14, 2008, Smith was convicted of Aggravated Criminal Sexual Abuse in Madison County, Illinois, and was required to register as a sex offender. Smith signed a Missouri Sex Offender Registration Form on September 3, 2014, while at the Booneville Correctional Center in Missouri. On June 24, 2015, Waterloo, Illinois police officers received an anonymous tip that Smith was living and working in Waterloo, Illinois. Officers then went to Smith’s place of employment to interview him. Smith admitted he had been working and living in Waterloo, Illinois, since March 2015, without updating his Missouri Sex Offender Registration Form, or registering as a sex offender in the State of Illinois, within three days of arrival.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab "resources."

The case was investigated by the United States Marshals Service and is assigned to Assistant United States Attorney Daniel T. Kapsak.