Sault Ste. Marie Man Sentenced For Habitual Domestic Violence

          MARQUETTE, MICHIGAN — Justin Ryan Wykoff, 28, of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan was sentenced to 42 months in federal prison for domestic violence by a habitual offender, U.S. Attorney Patrick Miles announced today. In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Judge Paul L. Maloney ordered Wykoff to serve three years of supervised release following his prison term.

          Wykoff pled guilty to the charge in August of this year. The charge stems from an incident last December in which Wykoff assaulted a woman in the parking lot of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribal Health Center. A passerby witnessed the assault and reported it to the Sault Ste. Marie Tribal Police. Wykoff had previously been convicted of domestic violence offenses against the same woman on May 22, 2015 and September 2, 2015, in the 91st District Court, Chippewa County, Michigan. In imposing the sentence for the December assault, Judge Maloney noted both the physical abuse and the insidious psychological abuse Wykoff had inflicted upon the victim.

          Before the federal charges were brought, Wykoff pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge in tribal court for the same December incident. But a conviction in tribal court does not foreclose federal prosecution and, after consultation with tribal authorities, the U.S. Attorney’s Office pursued the federal charges as well.

          The Sault Ste. Marie Tribal Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated the case. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul D. Lochner.

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