Joel Elliott Sentenced For Attempted Prison Escape
The man sentenced to 37 years imprisonment for torching a public building in Sheridan two years ago will serve one more year for trying to escape from the Natrona County jail in December, according to a news release from the Wyoming U.S. Attorney's Office.
U.S. District Court Judge Scott Skavdahl sentenced Joel Elliott of Sheridan to two years and one day, with one year of that to be served consecutively to the 37-year sentence for violations of explosives laws and lying to a grand jury.
Elliott committed those crimes two years ago when he was about to plead guilty to forgery in Sheridan County Court. The county attorney also was prosecuting him for stalking a former girlfriend, who was friends of two of the prosecutors.
On June 4, 2014, he poured gasoline throughout the county attorney building and ignited it with a small homemade bomb. The fire caused $900,000 in damage. No one was injured.
A jury convicted him in October.
On Dec. 15, three days before his sentencing, Elliott unsuccessfully tried to escape from the Natrona County Detention Center during a snowstorm.
Elliott's new sentence is among five others handed down recently by federal judges, according to the news release.
In other court hearings, Skavdahl sentenced Aurelia Quezada-Moreno, 47, of Mexico for conspiracy to distribute 1.5 to 5 kilograms -- 3.3 pounds to 11 pounds -- of a mixture of substance containing a detectable amount of methamphetamine. She received 10 years imprisonment, to be followed by five years of supervised release. She is subject to deportation upon release from custody.
In another drug case, Skavdahl sentenced Robert Vance Poutre, 51, of Evansville for conspiracy to distribute 500 grams or more of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of methamphetamine, for carrying a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime, and for being a felon in possession of a firearm. He received 20 years imprisonment, to be followed by five years of supervised release.
Skavdahl also sentenced Kerry John Garnica, 53, of Casper for being a felon in possession of a firearm. Garnica was arrested in St. Paul, Minn. He received two years, six months imprisonment, to be followed by three years of supervised release.
U.S. District Court Judge Alan Johnson sentenced Marcos Correa, 31, of Riverside, Calif., for conspiracy to distribute 500 grams or more of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of methamphetamine. He received 12 years and seven months imprisonment to run concurrent to another sentence in New Mexico. In addition, Correa will be placed on supervised release for five years upon release from custody and was ordered to pay $5,000 in restitution.
Chief U.S. District Court Judge Nancy Freudenthal sentenced Bryan Kip Noyes, 55, of Price, Utah, for distribution of 200 grams or more of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of methamphetamine. Noyes was arrested in Salt Lake City. He received 18 months imprisonment, to be followed by two years of supervised release.