Panhandle man sentenced for failing to register as sex offender

NORTH PLATTE, Neb. (KNOP) - A 44-year-old man from Big Springs, Nebraska was sentenced Tuesday in federal court for failing to register as a sex offender.

Jack Brown Wilson was sentenced to time served. He will now begin a 5-year term of supervised release and must still register as a sex offender.

Judge John Gerrard noted that Wilson’s case was “unique” in that the investigation revealed that Wilson had attempted to register in Cheyenne County as a sex offender. However, Cheyenne County acknowledged that their system did not save his completed sex offender registration. Further investigation revealed the defendant’s attempt at registration fell outside of the time requirements under federal law. Wilson was given the opportunity to explain what had happened as the investigation commenced, but failed to attend the scheduled meeting and stopped answering his phone. Approximately a week later, he moved to another state. “You could have saved yourself a lot of pain with a little bit of effort” Judge Gerrard noted in imposing his sentence.

The Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), also known as the Adam Walsh Protection and Safety Act, requires that a convicted sex offender register in each jurisdiction where the offender resides, where the offender is employed, or where the offender is a student, and that the sex offender maintain current registrations. Wilson was required to register as a sex offender because he had been convicted of one count of sexual contact with a minor in 2017 in the District Court for Sedgwick County, Colorado. This conviction required that Wilson register as a sex offender in the state of Colorado, and by federal law, in any other state to which he moved. Wilson became a resident in Nebraska in 2021 and failed to register.

This case was investigated by the U.S. Marshals.