CAHOKIA MAN SENTENCED FOR FAILURE TO REGISTER AS SEX OFFENDER

FAIRVIEW HEIGHTS, Ill., June 10 -- The U.

S. Department of Justice's U.

S. Attorney's office for Southern District of Illinois issued the following press release:

A Cahokia man convicted of failure to register as a sex offender, was sentenced to 12 months and one day in federal prison on June 10, 2011, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, Stephen R. Wigginton, announced today. Following release from imprisonment, Russell Mendell will serve a ten year term of supervised release and will still be required to register as a sex offender. Mendell was also fined $150, and ordered to pay a $100 special assessment. Mendell pleaded guilty to the charges on March 4, 2011.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), 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 to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

The investigation in this case was conducted by the United States Marshals Service. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Nicole E. Gorovsky. For any query with respect to this article or any other content requirement, please contact Editor at htsyndication@hindustantimes.com