West Virginia Code
Article 12. Sex Offender Registration Act
§15-12-8. Failure to Register or Provide Notice of Registration Changes; Penalty; Penalty for Aiding and Abetting

(a) Each time a person has a change in any of the registration information as required by this article and knowingly fails to register the change or changes, each failure to register each separate item of information changed shall constitute a separate offense under this section.
(b) Except as provided in this section, any person required to register for ten years pursuant to subdivision (1), subsection (a), section four of this article who knowingly provides materially false information or who refuses to provide accurate information when so required by the terms of this article, or who knowingly fails to register or knowingly fails to provide a change in any required information as required by this article, is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than $250 nor more than $10,000 or confined in jail not more than one year, or both. Any person convicted of a second offense under this subsection is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be imprisoned in a state correctional facility for not less than one year nor more than five years. Any person convicted of a third or subsequent offense under this subsection is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be imprisoned in a state correctional facility for not less than five nor more than twenty-five years.
(c) Any person required to register for life pursuant to this article who knowingly provides materially false information or who refuses to provide accurate information when so required by the terms of this article, or who knowingly fails to register or knowingly fails to provide a change in any required information as required by this article, is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be imprisoned in a state correctional facility for not less than one year nor more than five years. Any person convicted of a second or subsequent offense under this subsection is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be imprisoned in a state correctional facility for not less than ten nor more than twenty-five years.
(d) In addition to any other penalty specified for failure to register under this article, any person under the supervision of a probation officer, parole officer or any other sanction short of confinement in jail or prison who knowingly refuses to register or who knowingly fails to provide a change in information as required by this article shall be subject to immediate revocation of probation or parole and returned to confinement for the remainder of any suspended or unserved portion of his or her original sentence.
(e) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (c) of this section, any person required to register as a sexually violent predator pursuant to this article who knowingly provides materially false information or who refuses to provide accurate information when so required by terms of this article or who knowingly fails to register or knowingly fails to provide a change in any required information as required by this article is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall, for a first offense, be confined in a state correctional facility not less than two nor more than ten years and for a second or subsequent offense, is guilty of a felony and, shall be confined in a state correctional facility not less than fifteen nor more than thirty-five years.
(f) Any person who knows or who has reason to know that a sex offender is not complying, or has not complied, with the requirements of this section and who, with the intent to assist the sex offender in eluding a law-enforcement agency that is seeking to find the sex offender to question the sex offender about, or to arrest the sex offender for, his or her noncompliance with the requirements of this section:
(1) Withholds information from, the law-enforcement agency about the sex offender's noncompliance with the requirements of this section and, if known, the whereabouts of the sex offender; or
(2) Harbors, or attempts to harbor, or assists another person in harboring or attempting to harbor, the sex offender; or
(3) Conceals or attempts to conceal, or assists another person in concealing or attempting to conceal, the sex offender; or
(4) Provides information to the law-enforcement agency regarding the sex offender which the person knows to be false information is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than $250 nor more than $10,000 or confined in jail not more than one year, or both: Provided, That where the person assists or seeks to assist a sex offender whose violation of this section would constitute a felony, the person shall be guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be imprisoned in a state correctional facility for not less than one year nor more than five years.

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