WILLMAR -- Esteban Trevino, 32, of Willmar, was sentenced Monday to 36 months in prison for failing to register as a predatory offender.
District Court Judge Donald M. Spilseth also sentenced Trevino to two 30-month sentences, which will run concurrently with the 36-month sentence, and fined him $1,500. He was given credit for 111 days of jail time already served.
Trevino was sentenced on three of the four Kandiyohi County charges of which a jury found him guilty June 26.
All three charges were felony counts of failing to register, based on Trevino's status as a Level 3 sex offender. After a conviction on a 1997 third-degree criminal sexual conduct charge, he was classified by the state as a Level 3 sex offender, meaning he was assessed at a high risk of offending again.
The sentence on three of the four counts pleased Connie Crowell, first assistant Kandiyohi County attorney. Earlier, the court had contemplated sentencing on only one of the counts.
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Defendants can be found guilty on several counts but are sentenced based on behavioral patterns and individual incidences of the crime. The original six felony charges against Trevino stemmed from his frequent moving around the city of Willmar after he was released from prison in December 2006. He informed the state Corrections Department that he intended to live with a sibling, but then moved in with his mother and later moved to a Willmar hotel. Spilseth expressed concern for the citizens living around Trevino as he moved about the town.
"The fact that there would be an unregistered sex offender there is of great concern," the judge said.
While Crowell pushed for a "top of the box" sentence for Trevino's lack of effort to comply with the registration requirements, Trevino's public defender Aaron Jordan argued that Trevino was essentially homeless and trying to make it on his own and didn't know the expectations of the corrections system.
"I'm not sure anybody told him what he was supposed to do," Jordan said.
