The United States Attorney's Office announced that during a federal court session in Great Falls, on May 10, 2013, before U.S. District Judge Sam E. Haddon, JASON CHARLES SHOUSE, a 36-year-old resident of Cascade County, appeared for sentencing. SHOUSE was sentenced to a term of:
Prison: 600 months
Special Assessment: $200
Supervised Release: life
SHOUSE was sentenced in connection with his guilty plea to sexual exploitation of children and production of child pornography.
In an Offer of Proof filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Cyndee L. Peterson, the government stated it would have proved at trial the following:
In 1997, in the Eighth Judicial District Court of Montana, SHOUSE pled to sexual intercourse without consent. In June of 1998, he was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment with 18 years suspended. Due to that offense, SHOUSE was required to register as a sex offender.
In July 2012, the Cascade County Sheriff's Office received a report that photos which depicted child pornography were located on one of SHOUSE's old cell phones. The SD card from the old cell phone was seized and searched. Investigators located videos on the SD card which depicted SHOUSE performing sexual acts on an approximately 2-year-old child. SHOUSE was identified on the videos and appeared to have filmed the videos himself in 2008.
Because there is no parole in the federal system, the "truth in sentencing" guidelines mandate that SHOUSE will likely serve all of the time imposed by the court. In the federal system, SHOUSE does have the opportunity to earn a sentence reduction for "good behavior." However, this reduction will not exceed 15% of the overall sentence.
The investigation was a cooperative effort between the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, the Cascade County Sheriff's Office, and the Montana Division of Criminal Investigation.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
