Lence gets longer prison term
Former Kalispell attorney John A. Lence was sentenced for the third time Friday for defrauding the former Mountain Bank in Whitefish.
Former Kalispell attorney John A. Lence was sentenced for the third time Friday for defrauding the former Mountain Bank in Whitefish.
His sentence increased by 50 percent, from 21 months to 33 months.
Lence was convicted at age 55 by a jury in June 2002 on 15 counts of bank fraud and conspiracy to defraud the United States.
In December 2002, U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy in Missoula sentenced Lence to 24 months in prison on each count, with the sentences to run concurrently. He found that Lence cost the bank $600,000 or more.
Lence appealed to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.
Defense attorneys said Lence and his co-defendant, Dr. Michael Allen, a former Columbia Falls dentist, were taken in by a Spokane con man, John Petersen, and were unaware that Petersen was manipulating their bank accounts with bad checks.
The appeal alleged that Petersen's testimony should not have been used because he was a pathological liar and con man. He was earlier convicted for his scams against the bank.
Another basis for the appeal was that federal prosecution for bank fraud requires that the bank be insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. There was inadequate evidence at trial that Mountain Bank was insured by the FDIC at the time, defense attorneys say.
The appeals court accepted neither argument from Lence, but did approve a cross-appeal by prosecutors that Molloy's sentence was too
lenient. Molloy deviated from the federal guidelines in his sentence, saying that Lence had already suffered a substantial penalty in losing his law license, that his status as a single parent made a lengthy sentence difficult for his family, and that Lence had believed he would be able to repay the bank.
In March 2004, the appeals court sent the matter back to Molloy and Lence was resentenced.
At the time, Molloy said he was unhappy that he had to give the former Kalispell attorney a prison sentence at all.
"I think he's about 21 months higher than he ought to be," Molloy said. "I don't have the discretion to do what's right; I have to do what's legal.
"I don't like it. I don't think the sentence is appropriate," Molloy said. By adding and deleting aggravating and mitigating factors in Lence's crime, he decided on the new sentence of 21 months.
Lence continued to deny the charges.
"As I've said before … I am an innocent man," he said at resentencing.
He began serving his sentence in September at a federal facility in Sheridan, Ore.
In March, Lence's case was again sent back for another new sentence.
That followed the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling that the sentencing guidelines that Molloy reluctantly used the year before are no longer mandatory sentencing rules, but are only advisory.
On Friday, U.S. District Judge Sam Haddon from Great Falls went to Missoula for Lence's new sentencing.
He increased Lence's sentence to 33 months on each count, to run concurrently. Still remaining is the $7,500 fine that Molloy originally imposed and three years of supervised release, following prison.
The case was investigated by the FBI and U.S. Department of Justice, with prosecutors coming from Washington, D.C. Lence was represented by attorneys Dan Donovan of Great Falls and James Bartlett of Kalispell.
Montana U.S. Attorney John Mercer said Monday that he approves of the new sentence for Lence.
"It's my belief that the 33-month sentence, given the magnitude of his crime, is more likely to deter and promote respect of the law," Mercer said.
Reporter Chery Sabol may be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at csabol@dailyinterlake.com