A Bulloch County man has been sentenced to serve time in prison for failing to comply with the terms of the Sex Offender Registry.
David Allen Robinson was convicted in a bench trial Tuesday under Georgia’s law regarding the registration of sex offenders. According to a December 2023 indictment, Robinson provided “false information when registering with the Bulloch County Sheriff’s Office” when he provided an address at which he did not reside.
Background
Robinson was placed on the registry as a term of his conviction in a Statutory Rape case in Effingham County in 2006. Robinson, who was nineteen in 2005, engaged in sexual intercourse with a female who was under the age of sixteen and unable to consent.
Robinson was sentenced in 2006 under the First Offender Act and ordered to serve 180-240 days in a probation detention center, serve five years on probation, and pay a $2,000 fine. He was not sentenced under any terms or guidelines for the sex offender registry, according to the sentencing sheet, but the clerk of court records show he was required to register as a sex offender for the term of his sentence (five years).
Despite the court paperwork lacking registry requirements, Robinson was charged in 2008 with Failing to Register as a Sex Offender in Chatham County and a probation officer asked for his First Offender Act (FOA) status to be revoked. Judge John R. Turner, however, denied the request. In an Order, he wrote that the FOA would remain in tact after “having considered the violations and the particulars of the case.”
In 2011, Robinson’s First Offender status was revoked after he was charged with Theft by Taking (misdemeanor) and Entering a Motor Vehicle with Intent to Commit Theft (Felony) in Effingham County. That case was prosecuted by then Assistant District Attorney Michael Muldrew.
In Georgia, a condition of the First Offender Act is that an individual commit no new crimes while on probation and Robinson was still on active probation at the time of the new charges, having approximately two months left to serve. He was resentenced without the FOA status and, as a result, Robinson was ordered to adhere to Sex Offender Registry reporting requirements.
In 2019, approximately thirteen years after his conviction and eight years after the conclusion of his probation sentence for Statutory Rape, an attorney petitioned the court to remove the reporting requirements for the sex offender registry for Robinson. His attorney argued that though the female victim was not of the age of consent at the time of the act, she was ‘not physically restrained during the commission of the act’ (no force) and there was no intentional harm to the victim on the part of Robinson. He also lamented that at the time of sentencing in 2006, Robinson was not ordered to adhere to sex offender conditions. Superior Court Judge Michael Muldrew denied Robinson’s request in January 2020.
Robinson has twice been charged in neighboring Chatham County for non-compliance of reporting requirements, citing unstable housing as a sex offender. Under Georgia law, he is required to notify the Sheriff’s Office of any change within 72 hours.
This week, in Bulloch County, Robinson appeared before Judge William Woodrum for a bench trial on the charge of providing an address at which law enforcement officers say he did not live. Woodrum found Robinson guilty of the offense and sentenced him to serve fifteen years in prison, followed by fifteen years probation. He received credit for time served in the Bulloch County Jail dating back to October 25, 2023.
Upon release, Robinson will still be a registered sex offender.
