The offense of assisting a sex offender is related to obstruction of justice offenses like harboring a fugitive.  It can carry very significant penalties since it is a felony punishable by 5 to 20 years imprisonment.

Proof of the offense requires a number of very specific items of proof:

• The object of the offense is a registered sex offender
• That registered sex offender is not in compliance with sex offender registration laws
• A law enforcement unit is seeking such registered sex offender to question him or her about or to arrest him or her for noncompliance with OCGA 42-1-12
• The subject of the offense knows or reasonably believes that the registered sex offender is not in compliance with the registration laws and is being sought by a law enforcement unit
• The subject of the offense:
• harbors, attempts to harbor or assists another person in harboring the offender,
• conceals, attempts to conceal, or assists another person in concealing the offender, or
• knowingly provides false information to the law enforcement unit about the offender