Fort Hall Man Pleads Guilty To Assaulting A Federal Officer

POCATELLO – Cody Preacher, 20, of Fort Hall, Idaho, pleaded guilty today in United States District Court to assaulting a federal officer, U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced. He was indicted on October 22, 2013.

On July 17, 2013, Preacher was arrested on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation for intoxication and for an active arrest warrant from the Fort Hall Tribal Court. He was being placed in a police car for transport to the Fort Hall Jail when he kicked the arresting officer, Jeremy Ball of the Fort Hall Police Department, in the groin. Officer Ball was treated at the hospital.

The charge is punishable by up to eight years in prison, a maximum fine of $250,000, and up to three years of supervised release.

Preacher is set for sentencing on May 20, 2014, by Chief U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill at the federal courthouse in Pocatello.

The case was investigated by the Fort Hall Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.