Jesse Allen Pearson 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 Helena, on March 27, 2009, before visiting Senior U.S. District Judge Justin Quackenbush, JESSE ALLEN PEARSON, a 35-year-old resident of Helena, appeared for sentencing.
PEARSON was sentenced to a term of:
- Prison: 30 months
- Special Assessment: $100
- Supervised Release: 3 years
PEARSON was sentenced in connection with his guilty plea to being the subject of an information in receipt of a firearm.
In an Offer of Proof filed by the United States, the government stated it would have proved at trial the following:
On September 7, 2000, felony forgery charges were filed against PEARSON in Wyoming. PEARSON left Wyoming, at least in part, due to the pending criminal charges against him.
On January 6, 2005, law enforcement recovered a High-Point 9mm pistol with the serial number altered and obliterated from PEARSON'S bedroom in his Helena residence.
PEARSON later told law enforcement that he received the pistol from an associate. The associate had purchased the pistol on October 15, 2004, from a Helena firearms dealer. PEARSON and his associate planned to sell the pistol to make some money. PEARSON also told law enforcement that he possessed the file that removed the serial number from the pistol but did not admit to filing off the serial number.
Because there is no parole in the federal system, the "truth in sentencing" guidelines mandate that PEARSON will likely serve all of the time imposed by the court. In the federal system, PEARSON does have the opportunity to earn a sentence reduction for "good behavior." However, this reduction will not exceed 15% of the overall sentence.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Paulette L. Stewart prosecuted the case for the United States.
The investigation was conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
This conviction is yet another important outcome from Project Safe Neighborhoods, a national priority of the United States Department of Justice. PSN is designed as a partnership between federal and local law enforcement to reduce violent crime and gun-related crime through the vigorous enforcement of the criminal provisions of the federal firearms laws. In Montana, the effort under PSN is called "Catch and No Release."
