Sex Offender Sentenced for Failing To Update Registration After Moving to Vermont

The United States Attorney for the District of Vermont announced that Curtis Johnston, 39, formerly of Putnam County, Tennessee, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Rutland.  Johnston had earlier pleaded guilty to traveling in interstate commerce without updating his registration under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (“SORNA”). 
 
Chief U.S. District Judge Geoffrey W. Crawford imposed a sentence of time served, reflecting over five months Johnston spent in pretrial detention, to be followed by a five-year term of supervised release.

According to court records, Johnston was convicted in Tennessee of aggravated statutory rape in 2012.  He was accordingly required to register as a sex offender with officials of any state where he resided or to which he relocated.  Under federal law, when a sex offender moves from one state to another, he has three days to update his registration.  Johnston relocated to Vermont in or about October 2020, but had not updated his registration to reflect his new residence as of July 2021.

The U.S. Marshals Service investigated this case. 
 
Assistant U.S. Attorney Spencer Willig represented the United States.  The defendant was represented by Jean-Claude Charbonneau.

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 U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and Child Exploitation Obscenity Section, Criminal Division (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals  who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.