Jones County Man Sentenced for Failing to Update Sex Offender Registration

A Jones County man who failed to update his sex offender registration was sentenced on Monday to 18 months in federal prison.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, 30-year old Colton Rickels of Center Junction received the sentence after pleading guilty in September to one count of failure to update registration as a sex offender. At the plea hearing, Rickels admitted that, between July 2024 and April 2025, he knowingly failed to update his sex offender registration by failing to update the Internet identifiers he used.

Rickels was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by U.S. District Court Chief Judge C.J. Williams. He must also serve a five-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.  

This case was brought as 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. The case was investigated by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, the FBI, the Anamosa Police Department, the Jones County Sheriff’s Office, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.