The United States Attorney's Office announced that during a federal court session in Great Falls, on October 13, 2011, before U.S. District Judge Sam E. Haddon, SCOTT JOHN POWELL, a 31-year-old resident of Midvale, Utah, appeared for sentencing. POWELL was sentenced to a term of:

Prison: 34 months

Special Assessment: $100

Supervised Release: 4 years

POWELL was sentenced in connection with his guilty plea to conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute cocaine.

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

Between 2007 and 2010, POWELL met two of his co-conspirators through a mutual friend. POWELL was in need of money, so he agreed to drive from the Salt Lake City, Utah area to the Great Falls area to deliver cocaine for his co-conspirators. POWELL transported cocaine to the Great Falls area for his co-conspirators several times and was paid various amounts for doing this. POWELL witnessed his co-conspirators packaging the cocaine before he transported it. POWELL also worked for a rental car agency and provided his co-conspirators with rental vehicles on multiple occasions so they could transport cocaine to the Great Falls area.

The total amount of cocaine involved in this conspiracy is over 500 grams.

Because there is no parole in the federal system, the "truth in sentencing" guidelines mandate that POWELL will likely serve all of the time imposed by the court. In the federal system, POWELL 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 Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Montana Division of Criminal Investigation, the Great Falls Police Department and U.S. Homeland Security Investigations.

 

 

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