CAMDEN — By BRADLY GILL
Staff writer
The U.S. has entered a sentencing memorandum that recommends up to six months incarceration for Jordan Alexandra Peterson, who entered a guilty plea on Jan. 25 of this year for one count of making a false statement to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The charge stems from a federal indictment that stated that defendants falsified a for Matthew Seth Jacobs - who was injured in a Deepwater Horizon oil-rig explosion and received a multi-million-dollar settlement which was payable beginning April 2012.
Jacobs died in an automobile accident on Jan. 19, 2015, at the age of 34.
After Jacobs’ death, his son - Jordan Jacobs, along with Matthew Jacobs’ brother - Laurence Reed, searched Matthew Jacobs’ home for his last will and testament, but were unable to locate it. On Jan. 25, 2015, Donna Herring claimed to have discovered in a gun safe in Jacobs’ home a sealed envelope containing a “duplicate” of Jacobs’ will. The ‘will’ left Jacobs’ son $50,000 for his education, and the remaining assets to Herring’s daughter, Peterson.
The U.S. sentencing memorandum states: “The Federal Bureau of Investigation (hereinafter “FBI”) began investigating the fraudulent Will in April 2016. On July 13, 2016, the FBI executed search warrants and seizure warrants and interviewed suspects. It was during Peterson’s interview with the FBI on July 13, 2016, that she lied to the FBI regarding MSJ’s cell phone.
“Peterson’s lie did not occur in a vacuum, as defense counsel would have the Court believe. Peterson claims a lack of knowledge of the fraud going on all around her but the facts suggest a conscious course of deliberate ignorance. Peterson was present and participated in key moments that furthered the conspiracy and made the fraud possible. Peterson was staying in MSJ’s house in the days following his death while the search for his Last Will and Testament was overt and ongoing. Peterson was present for the first search of the gun safe when no Will was found, and then participated in changing the door lock code to the gun safe so that no one else could get in it.
“Peterson, a couple of days later, provided Donna Herring the code to unlock the gun safe. Donna Herring then hid the fake Will in it so that Doug Peterson and an unsuspecting neighbor would find it. For Peterson to feign ignorance of the fake Will being found in the very safe she stood in front of a couple of days before when no Will was found in it, and then claim no knowledge of the scheme, is reductio ad absurdum .” A phrase that refers to a form of argument which attempts either to disprove a statement by showing it inevitably leads to a ridiculous, absurd, or impractical conclusion.
“After MSJ died, the phone was given to Peterson so she could unlock it. On that phone was evidence of the other women that MSJ was seeing. Peterson informed her friends of this information in the days following MSJ’s death. This information directly contradicted the story of “all is well with the happy couple” that Peterson and Donna Herring were peddling during the time period of the funeral and throughout the state probate case.”
“MSJ told more than one person in the month before his death that he had broken off his engagement with Peterson. The evidence on MSJ’s phone would have corroborated those statements and shown her relationship with MSJ to be in its death throws or completely over. That evidence would have been central in a probate contest but was not available because Peterson kept the phone and its SIM card hidden from everyone else. From the moment Peterson gained possession of MSJ’s phone after his death in January 2015, she concealed evidence that was harmful to her both in a probate case and in a criminal investigation.
“Peterson did not just lie on the spur of the moment. She thought through the facts and realized that the lie was more beneficial to her than the truth.
“She continued the lie until others gave up the truth and then she had no choice.
“The act of lying to the FBI and hiding evidence is a serious offense that undermines and obstructs law enforcement’s ability to investigate crimes and seek the truth. Inadequate punishment of this offense will not promote respect for the law, but rather send the message that it is not serious and is unworthy of punishment by the Federal Court.
“The government submits that restitution for the losses incurred by the victims, the Estate of MSJ and MSJ’s heir, is appropriate in this case and should be addressed in separate briefings once a sentencing date has been set.
“For all the reasons stated above, the Government requests that the Court consider the arguments above in determining the Peterson’s appropriate sentence and prays that the Court sentence Peterson within the guideline range.”
A sentencing date has yet to be set for Peterson.
Two other defendants - John Wayne Kinley Jr. and his wife, Marion Diane Kinley - each pleaded guilty as part of a plea deal to one count of wire fraud in April.
All four parties have been free on bond and await sentencing.