Jeremy Clark-Erskine Sentenced in U.S. District Court

The United States Attorney's Office announced that during a federal court session in Missoula, on September 24, 2010, before U.S. District Judge Donald W. Molloy, JEREMY CLARK-ERSKINE, a 36-year-old resident of Missoula and Indiana, appeared for sentencing. CLARK-ERSKINE was sentenced to a term of:

Prison: 81 months
Special Assessment: $400
Restitution: $49,118.95
Supervised Release: three years

CLARK-ERSKINE was sentenced in connection with his guilty plea to forgery of a signature of a United States judge, false personation of a Social Security number, interstate transportation of a stolen vehicle, and aggravated identity theft.

In an offer of proof filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Bryan R. Whittaker, the government stated it would have proved at trial the following:

On August 11, 2009, CLARK-ERSKINE presented himself at the Montana Motor Vehicle Division in Missoula to obtain a Montana driver's license in the name of Angus Jocko Ferguson. On the form, CLARK-ERSKINE falsely represented a Social Security account number as his own which he knew belonged to another individual.

On September 6, 2009, presenting himself as a Captain in the United States Army, CLARK-ERSKINE, attempted to gain entry onto Malmstrom Air Force Base in Great Falls. At the time, CLARK-ERSKINE was driving a vehicle which had been reported stolen by Enterprise Rent-A-Car out of Chicago, Illinois.

Pursuant to a federal search warrant, law enforcement searched the car and recovered numerous fraudulent documents. Two of the documents included an "Entry" and "Judgment" purporting to be from the United States District Court, Southern District of Indiana. The documents bore a false case number and both documents contained the forged signature of the Chief Judge of the Southern District of Indiana. CLARK-ERSKINE had forged the signature on the documents for the purpose of authenticating them to use to obtain a new social security number for "Angus Jocko Ferguson" to replace the original (and now compromised) number issued to him under the name Michael Bruce Lafferty, later changed to Finn J. UiNeill in an attempt to protect his identity.

From September 9, 2009, to January 6, 2010, CLARK-ERSKINE unlawfully transported from one state to another a stolen 2010 Ford Mustang. He rented the vehicle on September 9, 2009, from Hertz Rental Car in Missoula with a rental agreement contract which only covered a one-day rental. He did not return the vehicle on September 10, 2009, but instead drove it from Montana to California. On January 6, 2010, the vehicle was recovered from CLARK-ERSKINE in Culver City, California. The original Montana license plates on the vehicle had been replaced with stolen Washington state licenses plates.

Because there is no parole in the federal system, the "truth in sentencing" guidelines mandate that CLARK-ERSKINE will likely serve all of the time imposed by the court. In the federal system, CLARK-ERSKINE does have the opportunity to earn a sentence reduction for "good behavior." However, this reduction will not exceed 15 percent of the overall sentence.

The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.