76.7 F
Charlotte Amalie
Friday, March 29, 2024
HomeNewsPolice & CourtsDOJ Identifies Two Sex Offenders Who Did Not Renew Registration

DOJ Identifies Two Sex Offenders Who Did Not Renew Registration

 

V.I. Attorney General Denise George on Wednesday announced the arrest of 29-year-old Asymo L. Prentice of St. Croix, charging him with failure to comply with registration requirements and violating probation.

A second man, 55-year-old Everton Lavinier of St. Thomas, was contacted and required to renew his sex-offender registration, but was not arrested.

According to a news release issued by the V.I. Department of Justice, Prentice, a registered sex-offender, was apprehended by DOJ special agents Wednesday at the DOJ complex at LaReine, St. Croix. Prentice’s name was also entered in the NCIC system and it was revealed that he has an outstanding warrant in Georgia.

Prentice was convicted in 2008 of child molestation charges and sentenced to serve 15 years incarceration in Atlanta. He was released for good behavior after serving eight years.

Prentice traveled back to the Virgin Islands and registered as a sex offender. He was required to register every six months for 25 years. After he updated his last sex offender registration on October 22, 2020, he failed to update the next one which was due on March 10, 2021. Also, his last-known verification listed his address as Annas Retreat St. Thomas, however, he was located on St. Croix. His location as of his last verification, therefore, was unknown as investigators from the V.I. Department of Justice were actively searching for him.

Once located on St. Croix, he was asked to report to the DOJ office to update his registration. He was then arrested by investigators upon arrival. After his arrest, his name was entered into the NCIC System that revealed he is presently a fugitive from Atlanta Georgia and had outstanding warrants. DOJ will commence extradition proceedings so that Prentice will be extradited to Georgia.

Everton Lavinier
In 1996, Lavinier was convicted of second-degree rape. Like Prentice, he failed to register on his last registration date.

DOJ agents located Lavinier at his home, confirmed his address and had him register. He was not arrested due to certain debilitating health conditions, the DOJ news release said.

A team of special agents from the VIDOJ, with the assistance of U.S. Marshals Service and other local and federal agencies, routinely conduct unannounced inspections of registered sexual offenders to verify their locations and other personal information, such as their work and home addresses, the department said. The attorney G\general and VIDOJ are legally mandated to administer and enforce the sex offender registration laws.

Within three business days of arriving at a new location, registered sexual offenders must notify the VIDOJ of their name, residence, temporary lodging information, vehicle information, internet identifiers, telephone numbers, school information, and employment status. Registered sexual offenders in the territory are prosecuted by the attorney general for either failing to register or not keeping their registration current, as required by this law, and if convicted, the penalty is a fine of not less than $3,000 nor more than $5,000, or imprisonment for not less than three months nor more than two years, or both.

The law also provides that it is an offense to assist a sex offender to evade the registration requirements, which carries a fine of not less than $1,000 nor more than $2,000, or imprisonment for not more than six months, or both.

In 1997, the Virgin Islands enacted its first sex offender registration statute and in 2006, the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 was enacted by Congress. Title I of that act is known as the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, or SORNA. This act established a new baseline standard for states to track sex offenders, which required more unity and cooperation among jurisdictions in the registration and notification process.

The sex offender registry is available online for public viewing.

 

 

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
Keeping our community informed is our top priority.
If you have a news tip to share, please call or text us at 340-228-8784.

Support local + independent journalism in the U.S. Virgin Islands

Unlike many news organizations, we haven't put up a paywall – we want to keep our journalism as accessible as we can. Our independent journalism costs time, money and hard work to keep you informed, but we do it because we believe that it matters. We know that informed communities are empowered ones. If you appreciate our reporting and want to help make our future more secure, please consider donating.