Joseph Trombley, Failing to Register as a Sex Offender, Massachusetts 2014

BOSTON – In a shocking turn of events, a Chicopee man has pleaded guilty to failing to register as a sex offender. Joseph Trombley, 35, had been indicted in September 2013 and pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge Michael A. Ponsor.

The charges against Trombley stem from his failure to register as a sex offender in the states he resided in between May 2013 and August 2013. 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 he visited during that period.

During the time in question, Trombley traveled from Massachusetts to numerous other states, eventually arriving in Colorado. He had outstanding arrest warrants for probation violations in a number of criminal cases from Massachusetts state court.

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, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the 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.

Trombley is scheduled to be sentenced on December 17, 2014. The maximum penalty for failing to register as a sex offender is 10 years in prison, a fine of $250,000, and up to a lifetime of supervised release.

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