Denton Sex Offender Indicted for Failing to Register

 SHERMAN, Texas – A Denton man has been indicted on federal sex offender registry violations in the Eastern District of Texas, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei today.

Chad Allan Titus, 35, was named in an indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Sherman, Texas on July 14, 2021, charging him with failure to register as a sex offender.  Titus has pleaded not guilty and appeared in federal court on August 12, 2021, for a detention hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Kimberly C. Priest Johnson.  At that time, Titus was ordered to be held until trial.

“Sex offender registration serves an important public information and safety function.  When sex offenders evade registration requirements, they place the entire community at risk,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei.  “The public can count on the U.S. Department of Justice aggressively prosecuting sex offenders that seek to evade their monitoring requirements and slink unnoticed in our communities.”

According to court documents, Titus was convicted of assault with intent to commit sexual abuse, a felony, in Iowa in 2011.  As a result of that conviction, he is required to register as a sex offender in the jurisdictions where he lives and works.  In the spring of 2020, Titus came to North Texas from Iowa and registered as a sex offender.  Shortly thereafter, he returned to Iowa, and properly deregistered in Texas and registered in Iowa.  However, in October of 2020, Titus left Iowa and returned to North Texas, ultimately residing in an apartment in Denton, Denton County, Texas.  Titus failed to deregister in Iowa or register in Texas as required.  Members of the U.S. Marshals Service and the North Texas Fugitive Task Force became aware of Titus’ presence in the Eastern District of Texas in May 2021.  Specifically, a caller reported that Titus had exposed himself in the parking lot of a business in Denton, Texas.  

This case is part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.  Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the 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, as well as to identify and rescue victims.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

If convicted, Titus faces up to 10 years in federal prison.

This case is being investigated by the U.S. Marshals Service, the North Texas Fugitive Task Force, and the Denton Police Department and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Marisa Miller.

A grand jury indictment is not evidence of guilt.  All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.