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SALT LAKE CITY — A federal judge has again rejected Utah fraudster Rick Koerber’s request to be released from prison even though he apparently had COVID-19.
Koerber’s previous motions for compassionate release didn’t state that he had the disease, only that his health issues put him at high risk of severe illness or death from COVID-19. Government prosecutors redacted information about his health in their court filings.
But U.S. District Judge Frederic Block referred to it in his brief decision denying the motion Tuesday.
“Koerber contracted COVID-19, but did not experience any complications. There is no evidence that a recurrence of the disease would be any more serious (even in the unlikely event he can and does contract it again),” the judge wrote.
Koerber, a Utah real estate investor, ran a Ponzi scheme that federal authorities say caused more than $45 million in losses. A jury convicted him of 15 counts of wire fraud, fraud in the offer and sale of securities, and money laundering in September 2018. His current release date is June 2031.
Block has now twice denied Koerber’s motions for release from Terminal Island, a low-security federal prison in San Pedro, California, and seeking to be placed on home confinement.
Koerber’s attorneys argued that the federal Bureau of Prisons has lost control of the disease at Terminal Island where 54% of the inmates have tested positive for coronavirus.
“He seeks protection from the risk that his sentence could become a death sentence,” the lawyers wrote.
Koerber contracted COVID-19, but did not experience any complications. There is no evidence that a recurrence of the disease would be any more serious.
–Judge Frederic Block
Prosecutors contended that he didn’t present an “extraordinary and compelling” reason to be released, which would be a terminal illness or serious medical condition that rendered him unable to take care of himself in prison and from which he is not expected to recover.
The government also argued that Koerber has served less than 12 months of a 170-month sentence, and he has refused to take any responsibility for his actions.
“A reduction in his sentence now would only embolden him, as he would largely escape accountability for his crimes,” prosecutors wrote.
Block also ruled that he didn’t want to burden the Bureau of Prisons with monitoring Koerber at home and coordinating the timing and other logistics of his eventual return to prison.
Koerber had asked the judge to place him on home confinement, including an ankle monitor, in Grouse Creek, a tiny ranching community in Box Elder County where his mother and in-laws live. He claims the town of about 50 residents is diligently self-isolating to protect against the virus.
