Daniel Lee Vance Admits to Sex Offender Registry Violation

Daniel Lee Vance, a 22-year-old from Mill Creek, West Virginia, is headed to federal prison after admitting he vanished from the state and failed to update his sex offender registration—a move that triggered a federal investigation and a 21-month sentence.

Vance, already on the registry due to prior convictions, admitted to relocating from West Virginia to Ohio between July and October 2017 without notifying authorities, directly violating federal law requiring registered sex offenders to update their location within three days of moving.

He pleaded guilty in December 2017 to one count of “Failure to Update Sex Offender Registration,” a felony under the federal Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), which mandates strict compliance for offenders across state lines.

The breach occurred in Marion County, where Vance was last registered before disappearing. His failure to re-register in Ohio left law enforcement blind to his whereabouts during a critical three-month window, raising concerns about public safety and compliance enforcement.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah E. Wagner and investigated by the United States Marshal Service, which tracks fugitive sex offenders and registry violations across jurisdictions.

U.S. District Judge John Preston Bailey handed down the 21-month sentence in federal court in Elkins, West Virginia, underscoring zero tolerance for evasion of sex offender monitoring requirements. Vance now begins his term under the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons.