A sex offender who failed to update his registration was sentenced February 12, 2013, to 41 months in federal prison.
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.
