SYRACUSE, NEW YORK – Chad A. Worthington, age 43, of Ellisburg, New York, pled guilty today in federal court in Syracuse to one felony count of failing to register and update his registration as a sex offender after it was discovered that he had an e-mail address that he had not disclosed to the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services as required by the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (“SORNA”), announced Acting United States Attorney Antoinette T. Bacon and David L. McNulty, United States Marshal for the Northern District of New York.
In pleading guilty, Worthington admitted that from June 16, 2018, through April 21, 2021, he failed to register a Google email address he created on June 5, 2018, as required by SORNA. Worthington also admitted that he failed to register five other Google email addresses as required by SORNA between August 2016 and April 2021.
Worthington was required to register as a sex offender because of his federal convictions in 2005 for coercion and enticement of a minor and travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct.
In addition to his plea to failure to register and update a registration as a sex offender, Worthington also admitted today that this conduct violated the terms of supervised release previously imposed after his 2005 convictions.
Sentencing is scheduled for October 12, 2021, before Senior United States District Judge Norman A. Mordue. In addition to any punishment for violating the terms of his supervised release, Worthington faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000.00, and a term of supervised release of at least 5 years and up to life on the sex offender registration offense. A defendant’s sentence is imposed by a judge based on the particular statute the defendant is charged with violating, the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other factors.
This case was investigated by the United States Marshals Service and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Michael F. Perry as part of Project Safe Childhood. Launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice, Project Safe Childhood is led by United States Attorney’s 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 exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc
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