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June 12, 2008

Sex offender faces 10 years for failing to register

A Woonsocket man today became the first person convicted in Rhode Island under a federal law for failing to register as a sex offender after moving here from another state.

Michael DiTomasso, 35, who moved to Woonsocket from Milford, Mass., last year, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court, Providence, according to a news release from U.S. Attorney Robert Clark Corrente's office.

A two-year-old federal law requires sex offenders who move to register as sex offenders in the new state in which they live.

Prosecutor Milind M. Shah said at the plea hearing that the government could show DiTomasso pleaded guilty in 1995 in Worcester, Mass., to separate cases of rape and abuse of a child under 16 and indecent assault of a child under 14.

DiTomasso moved to Woonsocket in February 2007 and, under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, had to register in Rhode Island as a sex offender.

In March 2007, Woonsocket police officer William Coupe informed DiTomasso he was required to register with the Woonsocket police. DiTomasso, who lived within walking distance of Woonsocket police headquarters, did not do so, and the police arrested him about a week later, the U.S. Attorney's office said.

Deputy U.S. marshals arrested him on a federal complaint in October under the federal law, enacted as part of the Adam Walsh Child Protection Act. Adam Walsh, a boy who was abducted and murdered in 1981, was the son of John Walsh, who went on to host the television program America's Most Wanted.

DiTomasso is being detained pending a scheduled Oct. 24 sentencing. Maximum penalty is 10 years' imprisonment and a $250,000 fine.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney

Posted by Mike McKinney  at 3:08 PM | Permalink

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