DC Man Pleads Guilty to Failing Sex Offender Registration

WASHINGTON — Gary Saleem Price, 46, of the District of Columbia, pleaded guilty on April 30, 2026, in U.S. District Court to failing to register as a sex offender, per a U.S. Department of Justice press release.

The case involves one individual, Price, who was previously convicted of a sex offense requiring registration under federal law. Sex offender registration laws, established by the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) as part of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006, apply to thousands of offenders nationwide.

The U.S. Department of Justice reports that over 900,000 individuals are registered in state, territorial, and tribal sex offender registries across the country, with non-compliance cases numbering in the hundreds annually based on federal enforcement data.

Prior to the plea, Price had not complied with registration requirements following his earlier conviction, leaving his whereabouts untracked in the federal system. The guilty plea establishes his violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2250, the federal statute mandating registration for sex offenders who travel in interstate commerce or reside in certain jurisdictions.

Sentencing is scheduled for a later date in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, with the change taking effect immediately upon the court's acceptance of the plea.

The plea triggers a sentencing hearing where Price faces up to 10 years in prison, a fine, and supervised release, per the penalties outlined in 18 U.S.C. § 2250. Federal probation officers will monitor his compliance post-sentencing, and the case advances to the U.S. Probation Office for a presentence investigation report due within 60 days.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia must file any sentencing memoranda, activating judicial review under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines.

The Justice Department has prosecuted over 1,500 failure-to-register cases since SORNA's implementation in 2006, according to agency records. This plea follows a pattern of enforcement in the District of Columbia, where the U.S. Attorney's Office handled 12 similar cases in 2025 alone, per annual federal crime statistics.