Texas Man Sentenced to 10 Months for Failing to Register as a Sex Offender

United States Attorney Susan T. Lehr announced that Garrett Hannes, age 37, of Houston, Texas, was sentenced on October 2, 2024, in federal court in Omaha, Nebraska for failing to register as a sex offender. United States District Judge Brian C. Buescher sentenced Hannes to 10 months' imprisonment. There is no parole in the federal system. After his release from prison, Hannes will be placed on a 5-year term of supervised release.

On June 29, 2021, Hannes was convicted of felony possession of child pornography in the 268th Judicial District of Fort Bend County, Texas. The conviction carried with it a 6-year period of supervision, and included a condition that he does not reside in any household with children under the age of 18 without approval. Hannes was also required to register as a sex offender pursuant to the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), a federal law.

In October 2023, Hannes moved from Texas to an apartment in Omaha, Nebraska to reside with a woman and her son. Hannes then moved in with a second woman and her three children at an address in Omaha, Nebraska in December 2023 and again in January 2024. Although Hannes was in contact with his supervising officer in Texas in February 2024 and was instructed to register in Nebraska, Hannes refused to do so.

Among the special conditions of supervision imposed by Judge Buescher are that Hannes has no contact with children under the age of 18, including his own children, and that he does not loiter near schools, parks, and playgrounds and other places primarily used by children under the age of 18, unless approved in advance by his supervising U.S. probation officer.

This case was investigated by the United States Marshals Service.