Federal Inmate Sentenced to More Than Seven Years in Prison for Assaulting Federal Correctional Officer

ROCKFORD — A former inmate of the United States Penitentiary in Thomson, Ill. was sentenced today to more than seven years in federal prison for assaulting a federal correctional officer.

JOSEPH VAN SACH, 50, was found guilty of the offense on March 15, 2022, following a seven-day jury trial in federal court in Rockford.  

According to evidence at trial, on April 2, 2019, while in custody at USP Thomson, Van Sach forcibly assaulted a correctional officer who was engaged in the performance of his official duties.  Van Sach made physical contact and inflicted bodily injury to the officer.  

U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey imposed the sentence after a hearing in federal court in Rockford.

The sentence was announced by John R. Lausch, Jr., United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Robert W. “Wes” Wheeler, Jr., Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Office of the FBI.  The government was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jessica Maveus and Vincenza L. Tomlinson.