FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
INFORMATIONAL: FEDERAL COURT ARRAIGNMENT
Bill Mercer, United States Attorney for the District of Montana, announced today that during a federal court session in Billings, on December 11, 2007, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Carolyn S. Ostby, the following individual was arraigned:
JESSE TUCKER, age 40, appeared on charges of conspiracy to commit fraud, access device fraud, aggravated identity theft and wire fraud. He is currently detained. If convicted of these charges, TUCKER faces possible penalties of 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and 3 years supervised release. In addition, TUCKER faces an additional mandatory two year imprisonment, consecutive to any other sentence, for aggravated identity theft. Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan M. Archer is the prosecutor for the United States. The investigation was conducted by the U.S. Secret Service.
The defendant pled not guilty to the charge(s).
The charge, an indictment, information or complaint, is merely an accusation and any person named as a defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty. A pre-trial conference and a trial date will be set and the United States will be required to prove the allegations set forth in the indictment beyond a reasonable doubt.
