West Virginia Sex Offender Sentenced to 14 Months for Failing to Update Registration After Moving to Ohio
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — In Charleston, a city in Kanawha County, West Virginia, the U.S. Department of Justice announced on November 9 that Cory Alan Kinsel, also known as Cory Alan Hatcher, 38, was sentenced to one year and two months in federal prison for failing to register and update his registration as a sex offender as required by the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) after relocating from West Virginia to Ohio and obtaining employment in Kentucky. He was also sentenced to five years of supervised release, with the first six months of release to be served at a halfway house.
According to court documents and statements made in court, on February 2, 2025, a law enforcement officer conducting a compliance check on Kinsel determined that Kinsel had left his registered address, a Charleston men's shelter, without updating his registration. The resulting investigation revealed that Kinsel was living in South Point, Ohio, and working at a restaurant in Ashland, Kentucky, where he was arrested on October 8, 2025.
Prosecutors said Kinsel knew he was required to register as a sex offender and maintain that registration as a result of his conviction for third-degree sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl in Hancock County Circuit Court in 2007.
United States District Judge Joseph R. Goodwin imposed the sentence. United States Attorney Moore Capito made the announcement and commended the investigative work of the West Virginia State Police and the United States Marshals Service (USMS). Assistant United States Attorney Jonathan T. Storage prosecuted the case, No. 2:25-cr-179.
The Justice Department said SORNA is part of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 and requires registered sex offenders to register and keep their registration current in each jurisdiction in which they reside, work, or go to school.
(Source: U.S. Department of Justice)
Source: U.S. Department of Justice
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：美国司法部总部大楼（GSM联邦固定图库）。 / Photo: U.S. Department of Justice headquarters (GSM federal asset library).
