WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah (ABC4) — A Sandy woman who was arrested in February after using her car to assault multiple United States Marshals outside of a CVS in West Valley City was sentenced to more than a year in prison this week.
Melissa Lynn Trotter, 25, admitted to assaulting federal officers with a deadly weapon in May. U.S. District Court Judge David Barlow sentenced Trotter to 15 months imprisonment, three years of supervised release, and ordered her to pay $7,952.67 in restitution.
Trotter was taken into custody as officers with the U.S. Marshals Violent Fugitive Apprehension Strike Team were looking for a man named Charles Petersen in the West Valley area. When Petersen left the CVS, he got into the passenger seat of a Nissan Cube, which Trotter was driving.
According to court documents, when U.S. Marshals moved in to apprehend Petersen, Trotter put her car in reverse and rammed a federal officer’s vehicle where deputies were standing. Trotter then drove over the parking barrier, hit the CVS building, drove on the sidewalk outside the store, and “violently rammed” another federal officer’s vehicle.
“Trotter’s criminal actions were reckless and dangerous,” said U.S. Attorney Trina A. Higgins of the District of Utah. “My office is committed to doing everything we can to protect law enforcement while they work to protect our communities.”
Nick Chournos, the U.S. Marshal Chief Deputy for the District of Utah said incidents like these happen all too often when federal officers chase wanted fugitives with a violent criminal record.
It was not immediately clear why U.S. Marshals were attempting to apprehend Petersen.
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