James Kenneth Purcell, Failure to Register as Sex Offender, South Carolina 2017

Columbia, SC – A North Charleston man has been sentenced to 30 months in prison for failing to register as a sex offender in South Carolina.

James Kenneth Purcell, 45, was sentenced in federal court in Charleston, South Carolina, for his violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2250(a). United States District Judge David C. Norton handed down the sentence, which will be followed by five years of supervised release.

Purcell’s conviction stems from his failure to register as a sex offender in South Carolina, despite being required to do so under law. He had previously been convicted of 3rd degree rape in New York in 1995 and had a history of convictions in Maine and New Hampshire.

According to evidence presented at the change of plea hearing, Purcell first registered as a sex offender in Maine in January 2004, after serving his sentence. However, he failed to register in South Carolina after moving there in late November 2016.

Purcell was arrested in North Charleston by the United States Marshals Service Operation Intercept Fugitive Task Force on July 12, 2017. The case was investigated by the United States Marshals Service, with the assistance of local law enforcement agencies.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Dean H. Secor of the Charleston office. It was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse.

Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

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