FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Aug. 20, 2012
WAYNE COUNTY WOMAN ADMITS TO FEDERAL SEX OFFENDER VIOLATION
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – United States Attorney Booth Goodwin today announced that a Wayne County woman pleaded guilty in federal court to failing to update her sex offender registration as required under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (“the Act”). Tammy L. Payton, 42, of Crum, Wayne County, W.Va., was required to update her registration as a sex offender as a result of being convicted on July 11, 2001, in the Court of Common Please, Lawrence County, Ohio of complicity to commit rape.
Payton admitted that she traveled in interstate commerce from Ohio to West Virginia at sometime between July 2007 and August 2007, and then began living in Crum, W.Va. Payton further admitted that she knowingly failed to update her sex offender registration in West Virginia as required by the Act.
Payton faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine when she is sentenced on November 19, 2012 by United States District Judge Robert C. Chambers.
The United States Marshals Service and the Cabell County Sheriff’s Department conducted the investigation. Assistant United States Attorneys Lisa Johnston is charge of the prosecution.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit http://www.justice.gov/usao/wvs/PSCpage.html. For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and follow the link named “Resources.”
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