ALBUQUERQUE - Henderson Burke, Jr., 44, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation who resides in Shiprock, N.M., was sentenced this morning to 15 months in federal prison followed by five years of supervised release for failure to comply with the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA).
SORNA, also known as the Adam Walsh Protection and Safety Act, requires that a convicted sex offender register in each jurisdiction where the offender resides, where the offender is employed, and/or where the offender is a student, and that the sex offender maintain current registrations.
In Sept. 1997, Burke was sentenced to 63 months in prison for his federal conviction for child sex abuse on an Indian reservation. Based on that conviction, Burke was required to renew his registration as a sex offender for twenty years on an annual basis.
Burke, who most recently was located in Bernalillo County, N.M., was arrested by the U.S. Marshals Service on Dec. 5, 2012, based on a criminal complaint alleging that he violated SORNA by failing to update his sex offender registration as required. Burke has been in federal custody since that time. He was indicted and charged with failure to update his sex offender registration on Dec. 19, 2012.
According to court filings, Burke first registered as a sex offender with the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office in Jan. 2004 and last registered in May 2010. Subsequently, a review of annual audits of sex offender registrations revealed that Burke did not renew his sex offender registration in 2011 or anytime thereafter. Burke pleaded guilty to the indictment on April 3, 2013.
This case was investigated by the U.S. Marshal Service with assistance from the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office and was prosecuted by Supervisory Assistant U.S. Attorney Glynette R. Carson McNabb.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
