Chicopee Man Pleads Guilty To Failing To Register As A Sex Offender

BOSTON – A Chicopee man pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Springfield to failing to register as a sex offender.

Joseph Trombley, 35, had been indicted in September 2013, and peladed guilty today before U.S. District Judge Michael A. Ponsor. Sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 17, 2014.

From February 2013 to August 2013, Trombley traveled from Massachusetts to numerous other states and eventually arrived in Colorado. During that period, Trombley had outstanding arrest warrants for probation violations in a number of criminal cases from Massachusetts state court. Following a 2006 conviction for unnatural acts with a child under 16 in Northampton District Court, Trombley was required to register as a sex offender; however, he failed to do so in any of the states in which he resided between May 2013 and August 2013.

The charging statute provides a sentence of no greater than 10 years in prison, five years to a lifetime of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz and John Gibbons, U.S. Marshal of the U. S. Marshals Service, District of Massachusetts, made the announcement today. The case is being prosecuted by Alex Grant of Ortiz’s Springfield Branch Unit.

The case is brought as part of Project Safe Childhood. In 2006, the Department of Justice created Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the DOJ’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov/.