Isaiah Thomas Follet Sentenced in U.S. District Court
Bill Mercer, United States Attorney for the District of Montana, announced today that during a federal court session in Billings, on December 2, 2009, before Chief U.S. District Judge Richard F. Cebull, ISAIAH THOMAS FOLLET, a 27-year-old resident of Wolf Point, appeared for sentencing. FOLLET was sentenced to a term of:
- Prison: 60 months
- Special Assessment: $100
- Supervised Release: lifetime
FOLLET was sentenced in connection with his guilty plea to failure to register as a sexual offender.
In an Offer of Proof filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Marcia K. Hurd, the government stated it would have proved at trial the following:
On September 7, 2001, in the Fort Peck Tribal Court, FOLLET was convicted of aggravated sexual assault on a child. FOLLET was sentenced to 90 days incarceration and ordered to register as a sexual offender. FOLLET was informed of that obligation during his sentencing and in the court's judgment.
FOLLET resided in Wolf Point on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation and registered his address with the Fort Peck Tribal Registry. He last updated his registration on May 14, 2008. When a Fort Peck Reservation's Tribal Compliance officer went to FOLLET'S registered residence, he determined that FOLLET was no longer living there and had possibly moved to Billings the first part of December 2008.
On December 30, 2008, the Compliance officer notified the U.S. Marshals Service that FOLLET had left his last known registered residence in Wolf Point and moved to Billings and that he had failed to register or update his registration as required by Montana law.
A review of the Montana Sexual and Violent Offender Registry confirmed that FOLLET did not register with them as required by law and the Fort Peck Tribe also verified that he had not updated his registration through their office.
Because there is no parole in the federal system, the "truth in sentencing" guidelines mandate that FOLLET will likely serve all of the time imposed by the court. In the federal system, FOLLET 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 a cooperative effort between the Fort Peck Reservation's Tribal Compliance Office and the U.S. Marshals Service.
