Wellpinit Man, the Last of Three Individuals Involved in a Violent Assault, Sentenced to Prison

Spokane – Michael C. Ormsby, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington, announced that that the last of three individuals involved in a drug-related violent assault was sentenced on September 22, 2015. Darryl Russell Flett (aka Darryl Carden), age 21, of Wellpinit, Washington, was sentenced after having previously pleaded guilty on April 13, 2015 to one count of Assault with a Dangerous Weapon in Indian Country. United States District Judge Salvador Mendoza sentenced Flett to a 24-month term of imprisonment, to be followed by three years of court supervision after he is released from Federal prison.

According to information disclosed during the court proceedings, in August 2012, Melissa Suszka solicited others to assault a victim to whom she had previously provided prescription pills. Suszka had inadvertently given the victim more pills than she intended, and the victim refused to return them when Suszka confronted him. Suszka then solicited the assault. Flett was one of several individuals that actually carried out the assault.

This case follows the previous sentencing’s of Richard Peone, who was sentenced to 39 months in 2014, and Melissa E. Suszka, who was sentenced to 37 months in August, 2015, for their participation in the assault.

Michael C. Ormsby stated, “The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Washington is, and will continue to be, committed to prosecute aggressively violent assaults that occur within federal jurisdiction, including the Indian reservations in this District. I cannot be more clear -- drug-related violence will not be tolerated.”

This investigation was conducted by FBI and the Spokane Tribal Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Rudy J. Verschoor, an Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington.