Vegas Clay Calder Sentenced in U.S. District Court
| U.S. Attorney’s Office November 07, 2013 |
The United States Attorney’s Office announced that during a federal court session in Helena, on November 6, 2013, before Senior U.S. District Judge Charles C. Lovell, Vegas Clay Calder, a 38-year-old resident of Helena, was sentenced to a term of:
- Prison: 100 months
- Special assessment: $100
- Fine: $5,000
- Supervised release: three years
Calder was sentenced in connection with his guilty plea to being a felon in possession of a firearm.
In an offer of proof filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Paulette L. Stewart, the government stated it would have proved at trial the following:
On September 1, 2005, Calder was convicted of criminal possession of dangerous drugs and conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute methamphetamine and was therefore prohibited from possessing firearms.
On November 2, 2011, Montana Probation and Parole conducted a probation search of Calder's Helena residence because Calder failed to report as required on October 26, 2011. They had received information that he was living in Helena and that he was in possession of several firearms.
During the probation search, officers located a safe in Calder’s bedroom closet. The safe contained three loaded firearms with obliterated serial numbers, $7,700 cash, and drug paraphernalia. The firearms were a Rock Island Armory .45 caliber pistol, a Charter Arms .38 caliber revolver, and a Ruger 9mm pistol.
Because there is no parole in the federal system, the “truth in sentencing” guidelines mandate that he will likely serve all of the time imposed by the court. In the federal system, he 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 a cooperative effort between the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Montana Probation and Parole, the Missouri River Drug Task Force, the Helena Police Department, the Lewis and Clark Sheriff’s Office, and the Montana Division of Criminal Investigation.