RI Man Gets Prison Sentence For Failing To Register As Sex Offender

RHODE ISLAND — A convicted child Rapist from Rhode Island was sentenced Thursday to another three years in prison after failing to register as a sex offender and fleeing to North Carolina.

Jerry Noel Dias, 25, pleaded guilty in June to failing to register as a sex offender, according to United States Attorney Michael Easley.

Easley said Diaz was convicted in 2014 of felony first-degree child molestation after he raped an 11-year-old in Rhode Island. As part of the child molestation conviction, Diaz received a lifetime registration requirement under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA). In 2020, Diaz failed to register in Rhode Island, was arrested, released on bond, and instructed to report to probation.

Prosecutors said Diaz did not report to probation. He instead chose to flee, eventually making his way to North Carolina. In April 2021, a lead was sent to the Carolinas Regional Task Force and, on April 15, 2021, after confirming that he had failed to register in North Carolina, Diaz was arrested while hiding in the closet of a home in Fayetteville, North Carolina.

After being arrested, Diaz admitted to having been in the Fayetteville area for more than five months and said he had been working with a youth group at a local church.

Diaz was sentenced to serve 37 months in prison.