Jason R. Coody, U.S. Attorney | U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Florida
Derek Somerset, a 46-year-old resident of Tallahassee, pleaded guilty in federal court on August 22, 2025, to escaping from the custody of the Attorney General and their authorized representative. The announcement was made by John P. Heekin, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida.
U.S. Attorney Heekin stated: “I commend the efforts of our local law enforcement partners, working with the U.S. Marshal’s office, to get this violent felon off our streets and back in federal custody.”
According to court records, Somerset was serving a 48-month sentence for possessing a firearm as a convicted felon when he was furloughed from federal prison on October 15, 2024. He was required to report the following day to a residential re-entry facility in Tallahassee but failed to do so. Authorities located him more than two months later at a motel parking lot where he was found overdosing on fentanyl.
Somerset could face up to five years in prison and three years of supervised release at sentencing.
The investigation involved both the Tallahassee Police Department and the United States Marshal’s Service. Assistant United States Attorney Eric W. Welch is prosecuting the case.
The United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Florida is one of 94 offices that serve as principal litigators under the direction of the Attorney General. Public court documents are available through the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida website (http://www.justice.gov/usao/fln/index.html).
