The United States Attorney's Office announced that during a federal court session in Great Falls, on August 8, 2011, before U.S. District Judge Sam E. Haddon, EUGENE ECKERT, a 48-year-old resident of Polson, appeared for sentencing. ECKERT was sentenced to a term of:

Prison: 156 months

Special Assessment: $100

Supervised Release: 5 years

ECKERT was sentenced in connection with his guilty plea to abusive sexual contact of a child.

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

In 2005, 9-year-old girl, hereafter referred to as "Jane," disclosed to a psychologist during an audio taped forensic interview that she had been sexually molested by ECKERT on numerous occasions from approximately the ages of four to eight-years-old while living on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation.

ECKERT remained elusive until September 2010. However, when questioned at this time, he admitted to engaging in several instances of sexual contact with "Jane" when she was between the ages of approximately four and eight-years-old.

Because there is no parole in the federal system, the "truth in sentencing" guidelines mandate that ECKERT will likely serve all of the time imposed by the court. In the federal system, ECKERT 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 Federal Bureau of Investigation.

 

 

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