Ripon Arrest Leads to Long Sentence for Out-of-State Felon
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – On Thursday, August 30, 2012, U.S. District Judge Garland E. Burrell Jr. sentenced Scott James, aka James Scott MacCulloch, 59, of Westminster, Colo., to six years and eight months in prison for being a felon in possession of a firearm, United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced.. James was previously convicted of rape and is also wanted by the State of Colorado for failing to register as a sex offender.
Judge Burrell imposed the sentence after an evidentiary hearing in which the judge found that James lied to the court about his personal history in hopes of reducing the sentence. In light of the falsehoods and other statutory factors, Judge Burrell determined that James merited a longer sentence than what the Federal Sentencing Guidelines recommended. Judge Burrell also found that James obstructed justice by lying to the court.
According to court documents, James was arrested on April 14, 2011 after a Ripon Police officer noticed the license plates on James's vehicle belonged to another vehicle. The officer determined that James had an active felony warrant for failure to register as a sex offender from the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office in Colorado. Inside James's vehicle, officers found a loaded .40-caliber pistol with obliterated serial numbers.
This case was the product of an investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Ripon Police Department. Assistant United States Attorney Paul Hemesath prosecuted the case.
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