Source: United States Attorneys General
Headline: Waterbury Resident Charged with Violating Sex Offender Registration Laws
John H. Durham, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, today announced that a federal grand jury in Hartford has returned an Indictment charging BYRON ELLIOTT VAUGHN, 31, of Waterbury, with violating the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA).
The indictment was returned on November 30, 2017. VAUGHN appeared today before U.S. Magistrate Judge William I. Garfinkel in Bridgeport and entered a plea of not guilty to the charge.
According to court documents and statements made in court, in July 2009, VAUGHN was convicted in the Commonwealth of Virginia of rape. He was sentenced to 10 years of incarceration, suspended after serving two years, and 15 years of probation. VAUGHN also was required to comply with lifetime sex offender registration requirements.
It is alleged that VAUGHN failed to update his sexual offender registration in Virginia, failed to advise Virginia of his change of residence to Connecticut, and failed to register in Connecticut as a sex offender when he moved to Connecticut and applied for employment in Waterbury in November 2016.
On August 9, 2017, the U.S. Marshals Service located and arrested VAUGHN in Waterbury on a violation of probation warrant that was issued in Virginia in December 2015. He has been detained since his arrest.
If convicted of the offense, VAUGHN faces a maximum term of imprisonment of 10 years.
U.S. Attorney Durham stressed that an indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is entitled to a fair trial at which it is the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
This matter is being investigated by the U.S. Marshals Service and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Deborah R. Slater.