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For Immediate Release

 Contact:
November 13, 2009 Phill Maxwell, Division Supervisor/PAO
U.S. Marshals, Midland, Texas (432) 686-4100 ext.223
Child Predator Sentenced in Midland Federal Court

Midland, TX – Permian Basin residents can rest a little easier today as one more child predator is sentenced to prison time under the Adam Walsh Act, also known as the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 in which U.S. Marshals have primary investigative authority. Kenneth Daniel Spriggs was sentenced yesterday by Federal District Judge Rob Junell in Midland, to 30 months in custody with the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, to be followed by a term of 20 years of supervised release.

After being arrested for indecent exposure in Arizona, convicted and imprisoned for Indecent Exposure in Oklahoma, Kenneth Spriggs was convicted in State District court in Midland after pleading guilty to indecency with a child in August of 2006. He was sentenced then by State District Judge Robin Malone Darr to 2 years confinement in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, and ordered to register as a sex offender for the next 10 years. In May of 2009, Midland Police Sex Compliance officers discovered that Spriggs had moved without notifying the Police Department, and officers had a warrant issued for failure to comply with sex offender registration requirements. The Police Department also contacted the U.S. Marshals to open a fugitive investigation and to determine if Spriggs had crossed State lines, which would make it a federal offense under the Adam Walsh Act.

Senior Criminal Investigator for the U.S. Marshals, Steve Clark, began running down potential leads on the whereabouts of Kenneth Spriggs, who usually stayed in cheap motels or homeless shelters. Clark developed information that led him to Kansas City, Missouri and Wichita, Kansas, and he coordinated search efforts in both cities with the U.S. Marshals to narrow the scope. Police officers in Wichita, Kansas, working with the U.S. Marshals there, spotted Spriggs and arrested him on June 10, 2009. Spriggs was later sent back to Midland, Texas where he faced the federal charges.

In the last two years, the U.S. Marshals in Midland have investigated 30 Adam Walsh cases. LaFayette Collins, U.S. Marshal for the Western District of Texas said, “Our children are our most precious assets. We must always work closely with our partners in local law enforcement to ensure that they are protected against people who wish to do them harm.”