By Linda Cicoira
Not registering as a sex offender has serious consequences.
Federal and state laws require those who have been convicted of sex crimes to register so law enforcement officers can keep track of where they live and work. Violent sex offenders can be sentenced to as much as 10 years in prison for failing to register.
Fifty-one-year-old Christopher Antonio Smith, of Occohannock Neck Road in Exmore, pleaded guilty to five of nine counts of failing to register as a sex offender in April. He could have received a term of 50 years in prison for the offenses. The charges stemmed from his guilty plea in Northampton Circuit Court to attempted rape 26 years ago. He is required to register monthly. Smith was also convicted in 2013 of failing to register when he lived in Accomack County.
“All you have to do is fill them out and send them in,” Judge W. Revell Lewis III said Thursday, regarding the registration forms. The Northampton Circuit Court judge sentenced Smith to four years each for the five counts to run consecutively for a total of 20 years in prison with all but a year and 10 months suspended. Smith is facing more counts of failure to register in Accomack County.
