Derek M. McCaster, Failure to Register as a Sex Offender, Illinois 2014

A 46-year-old East St. Louis, Illinois man has pleaded guilty to failing to register as a sex offender, a federal crime.

Derek M. McCaster was required to register as a sex offender under both Illinois law and the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) because he was convicted of Sexual Assault in the Second Degree and Attempted Forcible Rape on February 6, 1995, in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.

McCaster last registered as a sex offender in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, on December 12, 2012. Shortly thereafter, he moved to Illinois. McCaster was aware of his requirements to register in Illinois and to update his registration in Ohio upon his move to Illinois in December 2012, but not having done either.

McCaster was arrested on December 27, 2013, in St. Clair County, Illinois, stemming from Burglary and Forgery charges of a check theft incident that occurred in October 2013.

The United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, Stephen R. Wigginton, announced today that McCaster pleaded guilty in federal district court in East St. Louis, Illinois, to failure to register as a sex offender.

McCaster is scheduled for sentencing on August 8, 2014. He faces a term of imprisonment of up to ten (10) years, a fine up to $250,000, or both, and a term of supervised release up to (5) years, and a mandatory special assessment of $100.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.

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