Winnfield resident sentenced to 70 months in prison for failure to register as a sex offender

ALEXANDRIA, La. – United States Attorney Stephanie A. Finley announced that a Winnfield resident was sentenced last week to 70 months in prison for failing to register as a sex offender after moving to Louisiana from Michigan.

Dexter Lavar Powell, 38, of Winnfield, La., was sentenced Friday by U.S. District Judge Dee D. Drell on one count of failure to register as a sex offender. Powell was also sentenced to five years of supervised release.  According to the January 12, 2016 guilty plea, Powell traveled to Louisiana from Michigan between November 2013 and May 2014. On May 7, 2014, Powell applied for and received a Louisiana identification card that did not have the required “sex offender” label listing a Winnfield address.  He began living and working in Winn Parish in May 2014. Even after being contacted by authorities and told to register, he never registered as a sex offender in Louisiana.  While not registered as a sex offender, Powell committed and pleaded guilty in March 2015 to felony cruelty to a juvenile in Winn Parish.  After repeated attempts to capture him, the U.S. Marshals Service arrested him on September 2, 2015. Powell is required to register as a sex offender for life based on a 2000 conviction for attempted kidnapping of a 9-month-old child in Michigan.

The U.S. Marshal’s Service and Winnfield Police Department conducted the investigation.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael O’Mara is prosecuting the case.