(a) A person is guilty of the crime of harboring, assisting, concealing, or withholding information about a sex offender if the person has knowledge or reason to believe that a sex offender is required to register and the person assists the sex offender in avoiding 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, noncompliance with the requirements of this chapter if the person does any of the following:

Attorney's Note

Under the Alabama Code, punishments for crimes depend on the classification. In the case of this section:
ClassPrisonFine
Class C felony1 to 10 yearsup to $15,000
For details, see Ala. Code § 13A-5-6
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Terms Used In Alabama Code 15-20A-39

  • Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
  • Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
  • following: means next after. See Alabama Code 1-1-1
  • person: includes a corporation as well as a natural person. See Alabama Code 1-1-1
(1) Harbors, attempts to harbor, or assists another person in harboring or attempting to harbor the sex offender.
(2) Allows a sex offender to reside at his or her residence to avoid registration if the address is not the address the sex offender listed as his or her residence address.
(3) Warns a sex offender that a law enforcement agency is attempting to locate the sex offender.
(4) Provides the sex offender with money, transportation, weapon, disguise, or other means of avoiding discovery or apprehension.
(5) Conceals, attempts to conceal, or assists another in concealing or attempting to conceal the sex offender.
(6) Provides information to a law enforcement agency regarding a sex offender which the person knows to be false.
(b) For the purposes of this section, the term law enforcement agency includes, but is not limited to, the Board of Pardons and Paroles.
(c) Knowingly harboring, assisting, or concealing a sex offender is a Class C felony.
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