Wytheville Man Pleads Guilty to Failing to Register as a Sex Offender

Abingdon, VIRGINIA – A previously convicted sex offender pled guilty yesterday in the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Abingdon to failing to fulfill his obligations under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act [SORNA], Acting United States Attorney Rick A. Mountcastle announced.

Christopher Matthew Marsh, 40, most recently of Wytheville, Va., pled guilty yesterday to one count of failing to register as a previously convicted sex offender as required under SORNA.

According to evidence presented at yesterday by Virginia Assistant Attorney General and Special Assistant United States Attorney Suzanne Kerney-Quillen, Marsh was previously convicted of a sexual offense in Florida in 1997, which required him to register as a sex offender 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. A warrant was then issued for his arrest. Marsh was subsequently located and arrested at a motel where he 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.