Bill Mercer, United States Attorney for the District of Montana, announced today that during a federal court session in Missoula, on July 30, 2009, before U.S. District Judge Donald W. Molloy, SUMMER JEAN LYNN FETTERS, a 33-year-old resident of Kalispell, appeared for sentencing. FETTERS was sentenced to a term of:

• Probation: 5 years

• Special Assessment: $100

• Restitution: $15,949.56

FETTERS was sentenced in connection with her guilty plea to theft of government funds - food stamp fraud.

In an Offer of Proof filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Carl E. Rostad, the government stated it would have proved at trial the following:

Between December 2005 and December 2007, FETTERS made false statements on her Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services applications and six-month reports, and thereby received food stamp and TANF benefits. FETTERS received overpayments of $7,938 in food stamps, $2,390 in TANF benefits, and over $6,382 in Medicaid payments to which she was not entitled and would not have received if she had been truthful about her household income and circumstances. The total loss to the government attributable to these false statements and fraudulent concealments is $16,710.

Because there is no parole in the federal system, the "truth in sentencing" guidelines mandate that FETTERS will likely serve all of the time imposed by the court. In the federal system, FETTERS does have the opportunity to earn a sentence reduction for "good behavior." However, this reduction will not exceed 15% of the overall sentence.

The investigation was conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture - Office of Inspector General.

 

 

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