At his sentencing Wednesday, 27-year-old Jerrold Thomas Moffett heard from the federal agent who he kicked in the groin last summer when the agent allowed him to smoke a cigarette before bringing him back to jail.
“I don’t hold any resentment towards you,” said Homeland Security Investigations agent Chad Lindsly, who called into the hearing. “Fortunately, I didn’t suffer any long-term injury.”
Moffett was sentenced to three years and nine months in federal prison for the aggravated assault of the agent and for conspiring to commit bank fraud and identity theft in a separate case.
Moffett had been set last August to appear in U.S. District Court in Portland on the fraud case but he was sent back to the downtown jail because he was experiencing drug withdrawal symptoms and wasn’t fit to appear, court records show.
As Lindsly was driving Moffett back to jail in his SUV, he allowed Moffett out, while handcuffed, to smoke a cigarette on a curb about two blocks from the jail. Moffett kicked the agent in the groin and ran off.
As Moffett was running away, an officer shot Moffett from behind with a Taser. He fell to the ground, hitting his face on the concrete, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Rachel Sowray. When Moffett appeared in court next, his right eye was swollen shut and the right side of his face black and blue. It’s not clear in court records if Lindsly was the officer who fired the Taser.
“It could have been significantly worse for not only me but also for you, " Lindsly told Moffett at the sentencing hearing.
Lindsly said he recognized Moffett was caught in the “tight grip of a fentanyl addiction” and added that he hoped Moffett will take the time in prison to reflect on all that he has lost due to his addiction. Moffett’s partner died of a fentanyl overdose a few days before his arrest and now he’s lost “the privilege of being a present father” and his freedom, the agent said in court.
“I hope you reflect on the man who you are, and the man and the father who you want to be moving forward, and I think you’ll be a better person toward the end,” the agent said.
U.S. District Judge Adrienne Nelson accepted the joint sentencing recommendation from Sowray and Moffett’s lawyer, Scott Leonard.
Both said Moffett has struggled with a serious drug addiction that started when he was 14, as well as mental health problems.
As part of the fraud, Moffett worked with others to steal mail and then use personal and financial information found inside to create fake IDs and fraudulently open bank accounts, rent apartments and make other purchases, Sowray said.
Moffett had rented an apartment in the name of someone whose personal information had been stolen — and federal investigators raided that apartment to find sacks of stolen mail, stolen checks, counterfeit driver’s licenses, printers, scanners, credit card-embossing machines and U.S. Postal Service keys, according to Sowray and court records.
Moffett used the stolen personal information not only to secure housing but to buy personal items and to fund his gambling and drug addiction, according to his lawyer.
Moffett declined to address the judge at his sentencing. Instead, Leonard said his client had “deep remorse” and regret for the harm he caused and wanted to apologize to his victims and his family.
As for the assault of the federal agent, “I don’t think he was in his right mind,” Leonard said.
“He’s very much looking forward to being sober and getting back into his son’s life,” Leonard said.
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