Shane Tessimond: SENTENCING MEMO SUBMITTED

Theta Chi Fraternity, UNH, (The Granite, 1992-1993)
How many future felons can you identify in the photo?

The Justice Department has submitted its recommendation (.pdf) to US District Judge Ellen S. Huvelle indicating what it considers to be a fair and appropriate sentence for admitted felon and former UNH-Theta Chi fraternity president Shane Tessimond. On February 26, 2009, Mr. Tessimond pleaded guilty to one count of Conspiracy to Commit Mail Theft and one count of Bank Fraud.

Judge Huvelle previously ordered Mr. Tessimond (and co-conspirator Mark Parisi, who is jointly and severally liable) to pay $137,955 in restitution to the victims of their fraud: Kerry for President, Employer's Council on Flexible Compensation, and Bank of America.

In this new memo submitted by the Government, the DoJ recommends 15-21 months of incarceration for Mr. Tessimond, a former DC roommate of admitted felon Todd Boulanger. Clearly, the DoJ failed to take into account Mr. Tessimond's stated preference that he favors "increasing deterrents" to help prevent crime, presumably meaning he's in favor of longer jail terms. Such a pity, especially considering Mr. Tessimond admitted he used the stolen funds to support his "self-indulgent lifestyle."

There are a few additional things worth noting in the Sentencing Memo. In a section titled "The history and characteristics of the defendant" (pg 3), the Government writes:

Here, the PSR (Pre-Sentencing Report) reflects that the defendant was professionally, intellectually and emotionally capable of avoiding his criminal conduct, but instead chose to engage in it intentionally and repeatedly. The PSR reflects that the defendant graduated from college, earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from a prestigious college. His formative years were void of abuse and his basis needs were always met. PSR ¶ 45. Defendant Tessimond has not been diagnosed with any mental illnesses and is relatively in good health. PSR ¶¶ 52-53. The defendant, in short, was someone who should have known better than to engage in his fraudulent theft scheme.

'Nuff said. The DoJ also recommended that Mr. Tessimond's period of incarceration be followed by a 5 year period of supervised release, along with a "requirement that defendant Tessimond seek and receive alcohol treatment." Is anyone surprised by that? Of course Judge Huvelle may decide to impose a harsher or more lenient sentence on Mr. Tessimond.

Now in light of yesterday's post on Zeta Chi, the ACR Blog wishes to unequivocally state the following:

1. We have no knowledge whether Mr. Tessimond played any role in the Jan/Feb 1993 formation of Zeta Chi, the successor fraternity to Theta Chi, which he claimed in his bio to have presided over as President during 1992-1993.

2. We have no knowledge of the leadership transition that occurred between President Tessimond's reign at Theta Chi to the founding of Zeta Chi by Todd Boulanger.

3. We have no knowledge whether Mr. Tessimond played any role in Zeta Chi post-1993, or had any role in the planning or execution of the fateful Zeta Chi rush party on February 21, 1994 that led to the convictions of the fraternity for selling alcohol to minors and prostitution.

But gentle readers, is the DoJ trying to send us a few sly clues, as they teasingly do when they name a new conspirator as "Staffer E" or "Lobbyist F" in an Information or Plea Agreement? In fact, page three of the DoJ Sentencing Memo provides four justifications (labeled A-D) as to why Mr. Tessimond needs to serve an appropriate sentence. Here, verbatim, is justification C:

(C) to protect the pubic from further crimes of the defendant;

That has got to be a most unfortunate typo! But in the unlikely event that it isn't a typo, rest assured the ACR Blog is on the case. We are going to vocus - er, focus - our efforts on obtaining the relevant court docs in the Zeta Chi case to explore the possibility that Mr. Tessimond played a part - any part - in one or more of the salacious matters that occurred in Durham in 1994. We will also vocus - er, focus - some additional research to explore whether he might have similar behavior in his background. After all, once a frat boy always a frat boy...