NEWS RELEASE

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY

WESTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI

MATT J. WHITWORTH

Contact Don Ledford, Public Affairs ● (816) 426-4220 ● 400 East Ninth Street, Room 5510 ● Kansas City, MO 64106

www.usdoj.gov/usao/mow/index.html

JUNE 11, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SEX OFFENDER CHARGED WITH FAILING TO REGISTER

KC MAN ARRESTED FOR EXPOSING HIMSELF

ON ST. JOSEPH BUS

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Matt J. Whitworth, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a homeless man living in Kansas City, Mo., was charged in federal court today with failing to register as a sex offender after being arrested by St. Joseph, Mo., police officers for exposing himself on a public bus.

Anthony Elliott Barnes, 40, of Kansas City, was charged in a criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Mo. Barnes was arrested for sexual misconduct on Wednesday, June 10, 2009, by St. Joseph police officers, and remains in custody.

According to an affidavit filed in support of today’s criminal complaint, the driver of a city bus claimed that Barnes exposed himself and began masturbating on the bus.

Barnes has been receiving regular services at ReStart, a homeless shelter in Kansas City, since August 2008. Barnes was sentenced to seven years in state prison in North Carolina after being convicted of attempted second degree rape, indecent exposure and attempted first degree kidnapping. Barnes was released from custody in North Carolina in March 2008, the affidavit says, but there is no record of him ever registering as a sex offender in any state where he resided – including Missouri – as required by law.

Whitworth cautioned that the charge contained in this complaint is simply an accusation, and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charge must be presented to a federal trial jury, whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence.

This case is being prosecuted by Executive Assistant U.S. Attorney Dan Nelson. It was investigated by the U.S. Marshal’s Service, the St. Joseph, Mo., Police Department and the Buchanan County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department.

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