Sawyer Sentenced 41 Months

A Black Hawk County sex offender has been sentenced to 41 months in federal prison for failing to update his registration as a sex offender. Howard Sawyer, age 39, from Black Hawk County, received the sentence after a November 15, 2012, guilty plea to one count of failing to update his registration as a sex offender.

In a plea agreement, Sawyer admitted that, in 2009, he left the Waterloo Residential Correctional Facility and traveled to Mexico, where he stayed until 2011 without updating his registration as required by the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act. Sawyer was required to register because of his 1998 Buchanan County conviction for sexual abuse in the third degree.

Sawyer was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Chief Judge Linda R. Reade. Sawyer was sentenced to 41 months’ imprisonment. A special assessment of $100 was imposed, and Sawyer must also serve a 5-year term of supervised release. He must comply with all sex offender registration and public notification requirements.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Mark Tremmel and was investigated by the United States Marshals Service and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation. The prosecution of Sawyer is a prime example of the efforts being made to combat sex crimes and ensure public safety.

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 www.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources.” Court file information is available at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl. The case file number is CR 12-2029. The sentencing of Howard Sawyer serves as a reminder of the importance of compliance with sex offender registration requirements and the consequences of failing to do so.