Opinion ID: 214511
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Pendleton's Claims of Delaware Residence

Text: On May 4, 2005, Pendleton applied for a driver's license from the Delaware Division of Motor Vehicles. He gave the Wilmington Address as his address and signed a statement in which he certified, under penalty of perjury, that the information on this application is true and correct, to the best of my knowledge, and that I am a bona fide resident of Delaware. . . . I understand that all convicted sex offenders must register with the Delaware State Police within seven days of coming into the state as explained on this form. ( Id. at 251.) Pendleton also used the Wilmington Address when he filled out and signed a voter registration form at the Division of Motor Vehicles on which he stated that he was a permanent resident of the State of Delaware at the address given above [the Wilmington Address]. ( Id. at 249.) Pendleton listed the Wilmington Address as both his mailing address and permanent address in a passport application dated October 5, 2005. On October 2, 2006, he again applied for a passport, with his mailing address in Kempten, Germany and the Wilmington Address as his permanent address. In a third passport application on February 29, 2008, within the time period alleged in the indictment, he listed the Wilmington Address as his current and permanent address. Pendleton went to Germany in November of 2005 and was convicted of a sex offense there on October 16, 2006. After he served his prison sentence for that offense, he was deported to the United States, and he arrived at JFK Airport on January 21, 2008. William McAlpin, an agent with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, interviewed him upon his arrival at JFK. Pendleton listed the Wilmington Address on his customs declaration form and told McAlpin that he was residing there and planned to go there after spending some time visiting friends in New York City. ( Id. at 254-55.) He also told McAlpin that the Wilmington Address was an apartment within a home owned by one Richard Bayard. ( Id. at 257.) Pendleton then sent an email to Mr. Bayard to let him know that he gave the address to customs officials when he came through the airport, and that a strange call might come about me. I explained that it was your home and did not correct his impression that I rented a room from you. ( Id. at 300.) Mr. Bayard owned the single-family home at the Wilmington Address. His adult daughter, Kate Bayard, lived there for most of her life with her family and has lived there alone since 2006. Ms. Bayard testified that Pendleton was friendly with [her] parents, but she does not remember meeting him. ( Id. at 263.) As far as she knows, Pendleton did not have a key to the house, never stayed there overnight or asked to do so, and did not come in the house. Ms. Bayard did not know that Pendleton used her address to obtain a driver's license, apply for a passport, or register to vote. At some point between 2002 and 2006, Pendleton asked Mr. Bayard to hold his mail while he was traveling. He picked up his mail once, and then the Bayards didn't hear from him for a number of years. ( Id. at 265.) In 2008, Pendleton contacted Mr. Bayard to pick up his mail, and Ms. Bayard arranged to leave the mail in the mailbox in front of the house. Deputy United States Marshal William David had been investigating Pendleton's compliance with SORNA and made arrangements with Ms. Bayard for Pendleton's mail to be in the mailbox at the Wilmington Address on the afternoon of March 10, 2008. David went to the Wilmington Address on the prearranged day and approached Pendleton, who had checked the mailbox and was standing on a nearby street corner. After David identified himself, he asked Pendleton for identification, and Pendleton produced a Delaware driver's license that was issued on May 13, 2005 with the Wilmington Address on it. When David asked, Pendleton said that he lived at the Wilmington Address but had lost his key and was waiting for the other occupant to get home to let him in. ( Id. at 283.) Pendleton also showed David his passport and a membership card for Hostelling International, which had the Wilmington Address on it. Pendleton said he had just come from the library in Wilmington but was staying at a hostel in Philadelphia because he had business there. ( Id. at 284.) A receipt showed that he paid to stay at the hostel in Philadelphia from March 7 to 11, 2008. The hostel later sent his belongings to the United States Marshal's Service, and his name and the Wilmington Address were written on a luggage tag on one of those items. David arrested Pendleton, read him his rights, and told him that he was charged with a violation of § 2250 for failure to register as a sex offender. Pendleton first denied being a sex offender and then said that he was a sex offender but was not required to register. After he was arrested, the government executed a search warrant on an email account that he used. Emails that he sent and received in late January of 2008, after he was deported from Germany to the United States, show that he researched sex offender registration requirements in Delaware and correctly concluded that at that time he was not required to register under Delaware law.