TALLAHASSEE VIOLENT FELON PLEADS GUILTY TO ESCAPE

TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA – Derek Somerset, 46, of Tallahassee, Florida pleaded guilty in federal court on Friday August 22, 2025, to escape from the custody of the Attorney General and the Attorney General’s authorized representative. The plea was announced by John P. Heekin, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida.

U.S. Attorney Heekin said: “I commend the efforts of our local law enforcement partners, working with the U.S. Marshal’s office, to get this violent felon off our streets and back in federal custody.”

Court documents reflect that on October 15, 2024, Somerset was furloughed from federal prison, where he was serving a 48-month sentence for possessing a firearm as a convicted felon. Somerset was to report the next day to a residential re-entry facility in Tallahassee to complete his sentence. Somerset, though, failed to report and was found a little over two months later in a motel parking lot overdosing on fentanyl.

Somerset faces up to five years’ imprisonment and three years of supervised release when he is sentenced.

The case involved a joint investigation by the Tallahassee Police Department and the United States Marshal’s Service. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Eric W. Welch.

The United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Florida is one of 94 offices that serve as the nation’s principal litigators under the direction of the Attorney General. To access public court documents online, please visit the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida website. For more information about the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Florida, visit http://www.justice.gov/usao/fln/index.html.