Florida Sex Offender Sentenced for Failing to Register in Virginia

Abingdon, VIRGINIA – A Florida man, who previously pled guilty to failing to register as a sex offender in Virginia, was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison yesterday, Acting United States Attorney Rick A. Mountcastle and Virginia Attorney General Mark R. Herring announced.

Christopher Matthew Marsh, 40, of Wytheville, VA, formerly of Tallahassee, FL, pled guilty earlier this year in District Court to failing to register as a sex offender, in violation of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA). Marsh was sentenced yesterday to serve 30 months in federal prison, to run consecutively to a 30 month sentence imposed in state court in Florida for failing to comply with sexual predator reporting requirements in that state.

According to evidence presented by Virginia Assistant Attorney General and Special Assistant United States Attorney Suzanne Kerney-Quillen when Marsh pled guilty, Marsh had been previously convicted of an attempted capital sexual offense in Florida in 1997, which required him to register as a sex offender for life under SORNA. Marsh complied, to some extent, with provisions of SORNA following his release from prison until June 2016 when probation officers in Florida received notification that his GPS monitor strap had been cut off, resulting in the issuance of a warrant for his arrest. Marsh was subsequently located at a motel in Wytheville, VA, where he had resided in August 2016. A review of the Virginia Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act revealed that Marsh had not registered as a sex offender in Virginia.

The United States Marshal’s Service conducted the investigation of the case. Special Assistant United States Attorney M. Suzanne Kerney-Quillen, a Virginia Assistant Attorney General assigned to the Attorney General’s Major Crimes and Emerging Threats Section, prosecuted the case for the United States.