MOUNT VERNON — A homeless sex offender was found guilty after a bench trial on a failure to register charge.
Ryan Llewellyn, 26, of Mount Vernon was found guilty of two third-degree felony counts of failure to provide change of address — with one count concerning a physical address and one an internet one — on Friday after a bench trial on July 16, according to the Knox County Prosecutor’s office. A bench trial is a trial without a jury where the judge decides the verdict after hearing the evidence and witness testimony.
Llewellyn had previously been convicted of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor and had last registered on Jan. 29, 2019, when he stated that he was homeless but gave no specific details. He had also failed to register Facebook accounts that were in his name to the Knox County Sheriff’s Office.
Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Nicole Derr argued the case for the state during the trial and called two witnesses to the stand, including Knox County Sheriff’s Lt. Penny Lamp and Sgt. Tim Knell.
Both Lamp and Knell testified that Llewellyn had registered one time and said he was homeless, but didn’t check in for the next nine days thereafter.
Public Defender John Pyle argued for the defense and said that because of his being homeless and released from incarceration at the time, Llewellyn didn’t have a fixed address to register nor did he have consistent access to a phone from which to call.
Sentencing is set for August 29. Llewellyn faces a mandatory minimum sentence of three years in prison for each count.
