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

David M. Hightower, a 23-year old, St. Louis, Missouri, man was sentenced on November 4, 2013, in federal district court in East St. Louis, Illinois, 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. Hightower was sentenced to 18 months in prison, five years of supervised release, ordered to pay $100 special assessment and a $200 fine.

The violation occurred between July 14, 2009, and February 22, 2013. Hightower was required to register as a sex offender under both Illinois law and the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act because he was convicted of Aggravated Criminal Sexual Abuse on September 16, 2005, in Madison County, Illinois.

Hightower signed an Illinois Sex Offender Registration Act Form on July 13, 2009, acknowledging he understood the conditions of maintaining his sex offender registration. It was discovered during an interview by a law enforcement officer on February 12, 2013, in St. Louis, Missouri, in relation to another charge that an active warrant was in effect in Madison County, Illinois, for his failure to register as a sex offender. Hightower admitted living in Missouri when the violation occurred, and not having registered as a sex offender in Missouri until February 23, 2013.

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. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better 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 www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources.”

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