Jamestown sex offender charged again in juvenile sexual assault case

A registered sex offender in Jamestown faced new charges tied to the alleged sexual assault of a juvenile female, adding another serious case to a community already receiving offender alerts through the state registry. iNewZ-TV posted video coverage of the development on June 26, and the report described the accused as a registered sex offender in Jamestown.

Stutsman County residents had already been warned in April that Brian Sternberg, 57, had registered a new address at Jamestown Campground, 3605 80th Ave. SE, Site 26. The Stutsman County Sheriff's Office said at the time that Sternberg was a high-risk offender, a designation that places him among the registrants the public is most likely to watch closely in the county.

That notice also tied Sternberg to two earlier Cass County District Court cases. In 2000, he was convicted of continuous sexual abuse of a child involving a pre-teen girl and child abuse involving a young boy. The same notice said he had also been convicted in 1992 in Cass County District Court of corrupt solicitation of a minor involving sexual contact with a teenager.

North Dakota’s sex offender registry lets the public search by name or by neighborhood, map offenders near a fixed address, and sign up for email alerts when an offender’s registration changes. For Jamestown residents, that makes campground addresses, apartment blocks and other registered locations part of a live public-safety watch list, especially when a registrant has been classified as high-risk.

The June 26 report did not include a court docket number or bond information in the publicly available excerpt. It also did not provide the full charge title beyond the allegation of sexual assault of a juvenile female. Even so, the new case keeps attention on how Stutsman County and state registry officials track repeat offenders after they register a new address in the area.