The United States Attorney's Office announced that during a federal court session in Billings, on December 3, 2012, before Senior U.S. District Judge Jack D. Shanstrom, MICHAEL RAY LUFBOROUGH, a 31-year-old resident of Miles City, appeared for sentencing. LUFBOROUGH was sentenced to a term of:

Prison: 63 months

Special Assessment: $100

Supervised Release: 3 years

LUFBOROUGH was sentenced in connection with his guilty plea to being a felon-in-possession of firearms.

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

In the afternoon of January 23, 2011, LUFBOROUGH, a convicted felon on state supervision, walked out of a store in Miles City without paying for two bolt-action rifles. The rifles were a Howa .270 bolt-action rifle and a Weatherby 7 mm bolt-action rifle.

Store employees confronted LUFBOROUGH who returned the rifles to the store. An employee called the Miles City Police Department to report the theft and LUFBOROUGH's actions. LUFBOROUGH asked the employees to disregard his "mistake" and "forget the whole thing ever happened." Most of LUFBOROUGH's actions were also recorded on the store security system.

Because there is no parole in the federal system, the "truth in sentencing" guidelines mandate that LUFBOROUGH will likely serve all of the time imposed by the court. In the federal system, LUFBOROUGH 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 Miles City Police Department, Montana Probation and Parole, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

 

 

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