Convicted Sex Offender Sentenced to Two Years in Prison for Failure to Register

ANNISTON, Ala. - A Colbert County man was sentenced on a felony charge for violating the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, announced U.S. Attorney Prim F. Escalona.

U.S. District Judge Corey L. Maze sentenced Michael Shane McDaniel, 57, of Muscle Shoals, Alabama, to 24 months in prison followed by eight years of supervised release. In June, McDaniel pleaded guilty to failing to register or update his registration as required by the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA).

According to court documents, McDaniel was convicted in 2011 of child molestation in Marion Superior Court in Indianapolis, Indiana, and is required to register as a sex offender under SORNA. Following his conviction, McDaniel registered as a sex offender in Indiana where he resided. In June 2024, and continuing through December 2024, McDaniel moved from Indiana to Alabama and failed to register as a sex offender in Alabama.

The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 implemented SORNA and established a comprehensive national system for the registration of sex offenders to protect the public. The Act requires anyone convicted of specified crimes to register with the national sex offender registry.

The U.S. Marshals Service for the Northern District of Alabama investigated the case along with the U.S. Marshals Service for the Southern District of Indiana, the U.S. Marshals Service Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force, the Hendricks County Sheriff's Office (Indiana), and the Colbert County Sheriff's Office (Alabama). Assistant U.S. Attorney R. Leann White prosecuted the case.

The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched by the Department of Justice in May 2006 to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit https://www.projectsafechildhood.gov.