Cuch Pleads Guilty to Assault on a Federal Officer and Possession of a Firearm Following a Felony Conviction

SALT LAKE CITY -- Jarvis Charlie Cuch, age 28, of Ft. Duchesne, pleaded guilty to assault on a federal officer and possession of a firearm after a felony conviction in U.S. District Court Monday afternoon.  The plea agreement includes a stipulated 12-year sentence, subject to the Court’s approval.

As a part of stipulated facts included in the plea agreement, Cuch agreed that on Dec. 18, 2016, Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) police officers working in Ft. Duchesne attempted to initiate a traffic stop on a vehicle he was driving. Cuch fled from the BIA officers. As the officers continued their pursuit, Cuch admitted he reached out of the vehicle window and fired two rounds from a .40 caliber semi-automatic pistol, according to the plea agreement.

The pursuit went from Ft. Duchesne through Vernal City.  Vernal City police officers and Uintah County Sheriff’s Office deputies assisted the BIA in apprehending Cuch after his tires were spiked and his car came to a stop in Vernal.

He admitted that he forcibly assaulted, resisted, intimidated, and interfered with the BIA officers while they were engaged in the performance of their official duties.  He also admitted that in discharging the firearm during the incident, he violated a federal law related to using a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence. 

Cuch, a convicted felon, was prohibited under federal law from possessing a firearm.

The plea agreement also includes a stipulation that Cuch will serve 60 months of supervised release when he finishes his prison sentence.  U.S. District Judge Dale A. Kimball set a sentencing hearing for Feb. 20, 2018, at 2:30 p.m.

Cuch was on escape status with federal authorities when the December 2016 incident with the BIA officers occurred.  U.S. District Judge Tena Campbell sentenced Cuch to 30 months in federal prison in August 2015 for a firearms violation. The sentence was to be followed by 36 months of supervised release. The U.S. Bureau of Prisons transferred Cuch to a halfway house in Salt Lake City on Aug. 31, 2016, pending his release on Jan. 27, 2017.  Cuch was placed on escape status on Sept. 26, 2016, when he left the halfway house without permission.

Special agents of the FBI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Isaac Workman and Michael Thorpe in the U.S. Attorney’s Office prosecuted the case. Federal prosecutors acknowledged the important contributions of Vernal police officers and Uintah County Sheriff’s Office deputies for their assistance in stopping Cuch’s car and assisting with his arrest after his assault on the federal officers.