NRS § 179D.550 – Failure to Register as a Sex Offender in Nevada

Nevada Revised Statute § 179D.550 makes it a crime for convicted sex offenders to fail to register with the state Sex Offender Registry. This includes simply forgetting to register, or intentionally deciding not to do so.

The statute states:

[A]n offender or sex offender who:

(a) Fails to register with a local law enforcement agency;

(b) Fails to notify the local law enforcement agency of a change of name, residence, employment or student status…;

(c) Provides false or misleading information to the Central Repository or a local law enforcement agency…

–> is guilty of a category D felony [in Nevada]…

For a first-time offense of failing to register as a sex offender, the judge may grant probation. Otherwise, possible penalties include:

• 1 – 4 years in Nevada State Prison, and
• up to $5,000 in fines (at the judge’s discretion)

Neglecting to register more than once in seven (7) years carries mandatory prison time.

Common defenses to charges of NRS 179D.550 violations include:

• There was no registration requirement,
• The government made a clerical error,
• You were the victim of false allegations, and/or
• You were too incapacitated to comply

As long as the prosecution has insufficient evidence to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, the charges should not be sustained.

In this article, our Las Vegas criminal defense attorneys discuss:

• 1. Do I have to register?
• 2. How To Register
• 3. Penalties for Failing to Register
• 4. Can I drive?
• 5. Defenses
• 6. Record Seals
• 7. Immigration Consequences
• 8. Registration Times
• Additional Reading

1. Do I have to register?

You are required to register as a sex offender in Nevada if you have been convicted of any of the following crimes:

• indecent exposure (NRS 201.220)
• open or gross lewdness (NRS 201.210)
• first-degree murder (NRS 200.030), committed in the perpetration of sexual abuse of a child under 14
• sexual assault / rape (NRS 200.366)
• statutory sexual seduction / statutory rape (NRS 200.368)
• battery with intent to commit rape (NRS 200.400)
• administering a drug with intent to commit a sex felony (NRS 200.405)
• child sex abuse
• using a minor to produce pornography (NRS 200.710)
• promotion of sexual performance of a minor (NRS 200.720)
• advertising or distributing child pornography (NRS 200.725)
• using the internet to control a visual depiction of child pornography (NRS 200.727)
• possessing child pornography (NRS 200.730)
• incest (NRS 201.180)
• lewdness with a child (NRS 201.230)
• sexual penetration of a corpse (NRS 201.450)
• sexual conduct between secondary school teachers and students (NRS 201.540)
• sexual conduct between college teachers and students (NRS 201.550)
• luring a child or a person with mental illness (as a felony) (NRS 201.560)
• sex trafficking (NRS 201.300)
• any other sex act or sexually motivated crime¹

Being a registered sex offender carries a social stigma and can diminish your employment and housing prospects. Therefore, you need to hire experienced counsel to try to get your charges dismissed or reduced to a non-sex offense.

Duties to Register as a Sex Offender in Nevada

As a convicted sex offender in Nevada, you have the duty to register and keep the state informed about your whereabouts. Specifically, you are required to do the following six things:

1. Register with a local law enforcement agency within 48 hours of getting convicted (or getting released from custody following conviction);
2. Notify local law enforcement within 48 hours of any change of name, residence, address, employment, or student status;
3. Notify local law enforcement if you are remaining in a jurisdiction for longer than 30 days after initially reporting a stay of fewer than 30 days;
4. Complete an annual verification form;
5. Not provide false or misleading information to the Nevada Central Repository or a local law enforcement agency; and
6. Appear in person at a local law enforcement agency on a regular basis:
   1. At least once a year for Tier I offenders (NRS 179D.113);
   2. At least once every 180 days for Tier II offenders (NRS 179D.115);
   3. At least once every 90 days for Tier III offenders (NRS 179D.117)²

You face a felony charge in Nevada for not following any of these conditions.

Note that Nevada law draws no distinction between willfully defying a court order to register as a sex offender and innocently forgetting to register. Both are equally illegal. However, judges may impose lesser penalties when you had no intention to violate the law.³

2. How To Register

The court should provide you with detailed instructions on how to fulfill your registration requirements. Below is general information on:

1. Initial registration,
2. Change of address, and
3. Annual verification

Note that Tier 1 offenders (which is the least serious class of sex offenders) are not searchable in the online Sex Offender Registry unless the victim — if any — was a child. However, Tier 2 and 3 offenders are publicly searchable.

Initial Registration

You have 48 hours to register with the local police department following your conviction or release from custody. So if you are convicted in Las Vegas, you would register with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.

If you intend to visit another Nevada city or county for more than 48 hours, you will need to register there as well before the 48-hour mark. To find the local police or sheriff’s office, go to the State of Nevada Department of Safety website.⁴

Change of Address

Whenever you change addresses, you must inform the local law enforcement agency within 48 hours of the move. If the move is to another city, county, or state, you need to inform both your former and new local law enforcement agencies.

Depending on the circumstances, you may need to update the following information:

• name,
• occupation,
• place of employment,
• driver’s license number,
• address, and/or
• motor vehicle(s) registered to or frequently driven by you

If you are a Las Vegas resident, you may be able to update your address online.⁵

Annual Verification

You are required to verify your registration once a year. The Central Repository will mail you a form, which you should complete and return along with:

• current fingerprints,
• a photograph, and
• any other relevant information.

If you are a Las Vegas resident, you may be able to complete part of your annual verification online.⁶

For more information, contact the Sex Offender Registration Unit at (775) 687-1600 on Monday through Friday from 8 am to 5 pm PST or visit the Nevada Attorney General website.

3. Penalties for Failing to Register

Failure to Register as a Sex Offender in Nevada	Punishment
First offense	Category D felony 1 – 4 years in prison up to $5,000 in fines (at the judge’s discretion) The judge may grant probation in lieu of incarceration.
Subsequent offense within 7 years of the first	Category C felony 1 – 5 years in prison up to $10,000 in fines (at the judge’s discretion) The judge may not grant probation in lieu of incarceration.

Note that the judge will consider your motivation when determining a sentence. The judge might order a less serious punishment if you accidentally forgot to comply with your registration requirements than if you deliberately chose not to do so.⁷

Also, note that failure to register is a separate crime from the underlying sex offense. Therefore, a conviction for violating NRS 179D.550 counts as a “strike” under Nevada’s habitual felon law (NRS 207.010), which punishes you for having three or more felonies on your record.⁸

Finally, note that the Nevada DMV and Gaming Control Board deny license renewals if you are convicted of violating registration requirements. Scroll down to the next question to learn more about how being a sex offender affects Nevada driver’s licenses.⁹

4. Can I drive?

If you neglected to register as a sex offender in Nevada, you will be denied a driver’s license renewal when your current license expires.

If you are convicted of a sex offense, you are required to renew your Nevada driver’s license annually once your current license expires. (Non-sex offenders renew licenses only once every eight years.)

Every year, the DMV mails convicted sex offenders a driver’s license renewal notice about 45 days before your license is set to expire. Then you must renew the license in person at a DMV office. You may not renew by mail or online.¹⁰

5. Defenses

There are various defenses an attorney may try to use to fight charges of violating NRS 179D.550. The following are four of the more common strategies:

1. No registration requirement
2. Human error
3. False allegations
4. Incapacitation

No Registration Requirement

Sometimes, there is a miscommunication or lack of communication between government agencies about who must register and where. These information gaps can lead to false arrests:

Example: Kathy is a Tier I sex offender who successfully petitioned the court to get off the sex offender registry after only ten years instead of the usual fifteen. On the eleventh year, Kathy gets arrested for violating NRS 179D.550. But once Kathy’s attorney produces the court documents showing that she is no longer required to register as a sex offender, the charge should be dismissed.

In the above example, Kathy did not fail to register because she was not required to. Courts should not penalize defendants for government mistakes.

Human Error

When you initially register as a sex offender at your local law enforcement station, human beings are inputting the information into the databases. And sometimes these people enter the wrong information, which may lead to false arrests:

Example: Nathan is convicted of indecent exposure in Reno, so he goes to the Reno Police Department to fulfill his registration requirements. The temp worker filling in that day fails to do an accurate job, and the police department soon arrests Nathan for failing to register. But if Nathan’s attorney can show that he did everything that was required, the charge should be dropped.

In the above example, Nathan did not fail to abide by NRS 179D.550. Instead, the police station failed to process his registration correctly. Courts should not penalize defendants when the police were in the wrong.

False Allegations

Sometimes disgruntled police permit their individual prejudices to overpower their duty to follow the law. One way they may take out their aggression is to punish you by conveniently “losing” your paperwork and falsely claiming that you failed to register.

Example: After Brian registers as a sex offender, a police officer – who is angry Brian is out of custody – deletes his registration from the database. Then when 48 hours pass, this police officer arrests Brian for violating NRS 179D.550. But if Brian’s attorney can show that he abided by all his requirements and that the fault lay with the police officer, then criminal charges should not stand.

Therefore, it is very important for you to keep detailed records of all your paperwork and postmark dates. You should photograph and keep screengrabs of any relevant documents that show you are compliant with Nevada registration laws. So if a bad police officer ever tries to sabotage you, you will have physical proof that you were compliant.

Incapacitation

A possible defense to NRS 179D.550 charges is that you were too incapacitated to comply with your registration requirements.

Example: Daniel is a sex offender who goes into a coma following a car crash. If a warrant is issued for Daniel’s arrest after he misses his deadline to register, Daniel’s attorney can ask for a court hearing to explain the situation. Then the judge may agree to recall the warrant and dismiss the case since Daniel was incapable of registering.

Courts are more likely to dismiss charges if you are a victim of emergency circumstances beyond your control, such as a car accident or illness. If your flight into Nevada gets canceled, the judge may be unsympathetic and argue that you should not have waited until the last minute to comply with registration requirements.

6. Record Seals

An NRS 179D.550 conviction should be sealable five (5) years after the case ends. But if the case gets dismissed, then there is no waiting period.

Note that the underlying sex offense conviction that led to your requirement to register can never be sealed. Learn more about sealing Nevada criminal records.¹¹

Failure to Register as a Sex Offender	Record Seal Waiting Period
First conviction (category D felony)	5 years after the case ends
Subsequent conviction (category C felony)	5 years after the case ends
Dismissed charge (no conviction)	No waiting period
Underlying sex offense	May never be sealed

7. Immigration Consequences

Violating NRS 179D.550 is not considered an aggravated felony or a crime involving moral turpitude. However, the underlying sex offense that you were convicted of almost certainly is a deportable offense.¹²

Therefore, if you are a non-citizen facing criminal charges, you should hire a lawyer as soon as possible to try to get your charges dismissed or reduced to an offense that is definitely not removable.

8. Registration Times

It depends on what sex offender “tier” you have been classified as:

Sex Offender Level in Nevada	Length of Time You Must Register
Tier I	15 years, though it may be lessened to 10 years if you have been fully compliant and have not been convicted of another felony
Tier II	25 years
Tier III	For life, though it may be lessened to 25 years if you were a juvenile court defendant, you have been compliant, and you have not been convicted of another felony

If you are an eligible Tier I or III offender, you must petition the court to hold a hearing to determine whether you may get off the sex offender registry early.

Additional Reading

For more in-depth information, refer to the following:

• The Evolution of Unconstitutionality in Sex Offender Registration Laws – Hastings Law Journal.
• The Influence of Sex Offender Registration and Notification Laws in the United States: A Time-Series Analysis – Crime & Delinquency.
• Collateral Consequences of Sex Offender Registration – Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice.
• Do Sex Offender Registration and Notification Laws Affect Criminal Behavior? – Journal of Law and Economics.
• Public and Professional Views of Sex Offender Registration and Notification – Criminology, Criminal Justice Law & Society.

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Legal References