LAKE CHARLES, La. - United States Attorney Stephanie A. Finley announced today that an Opelousas man pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 15 months in prison for leaving a halfway house without permission.
Christopher James Courvelle, 45, of Opelousas, La., was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Patricia Minaldi on one count of escape from custody. He was also sentenced to three years of supervised release. According to the guilty plea, Courvelle left a federally-approved halfway house in Lake Charles on March 3, 2015 without notifying those in charge. The U.S. Marshals Service was notified and began an investigation. Courvelle was located at a bus depot near the Road King truck stop in Lake Charles and was arrested on March 4, 2015. He had been placed in the halfway house after being convicted in June of 2012 for failing to update his registration pursuant to the Sex Offender Registration Act. He had also previously been convicted of simple rape, which requires a lifetime of sex offender registration.
The U.S. Marshals Service and U.S. Bureau of Prisons investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jamilla A. Bynog and Howard C. Parker prosecuted the case.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
