FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, December 13, 2007
BRIAN SCOTT RILEY SENTENCED IN U.S. DISTRICT COURT
Bill Mercer, United States Attorney for the District of Montana, announced today that during a federal court session in Billings, on December 13, 2007, before U.S. District Judge Richard F. Cebull, BRIAN SCOTT RILEY, a 47-year-old resident of Utah, appeared for sentencing. RILEY was sentenced to a term of:
- Prison: 18 months
- Special Assessment: $100
- Restitution: $60,000
- Supervised Release: 1 year
RILEY was sentenced in connection with his guilty plea to willful failure to pay child support.
In an Offer of Proof filed by the United States, the government stated it would have proved at trial the following:
From approximately January of 2002 and to the present date, RILEY willfully failed to pay his child support obligation with respect to his children who resided in a different state than him.
RILEY is the father of two minor children, the first child was born in 1987, and the second child was born in 1988. The custodial parent (the mother) of the children resides in Wibaux. RILEY has a child support obligation for the children in the amount of $475 per month and resided in a state other than the mother and the children during the pendency of the support obligation. RILEY had notice of his support obligation for the children and failed to pay that support since June of 1995, and since January 2002 during the statute of limitations period.
RILEY is currently in arrears in excess of $60,000. During the relevant time period, RILEY was employed by various employers and had bank accounts and funds with which to pay his support obligation. RILEY has paid less than $3,600 since June of 1995, with his last payment occurring in September of 2000.
Because there is no parole in the federal system, the "truth in sentencing" guidelines mandate that RILEY will likely serve all of the time imposed by the court. In the federal system, RILEY does have the opportunity to earn a sentence reduction for "good behavior." However, this reduction will not exceed 15% of the overall sentence.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Marcia K. Hurd prosecuted the case for the United States.
The investigation was conducted by the Inspector General's Office for the United States Department of Health and Human Services.
