Burglar gets 10-year prison sentence for “trail of victims”

Justin Cornutt appeared in court last Thursday expecting to be sentenced to the Department of Corrections (DOC) for what would have amounted to five years in custody and 10 years of probation.
Twenty-second Judicial District Judge Blair Jones had other ideas.
Citing a “trail of victims” that Cornutt has left in his path, Jones said it was time to stop.
“And I intend to stop it now,” said Jones.
Jones then imposed a 10-year prison sentence with no time suspended for one count of burglary. He also imposed a 15-year sentence to DOC with 10 years suspended for one count of felony forgery and 10 years DOC with five years suspended for a second felony count of forgery.
All three of those will run concurrent, amounting to a 10 year prison sentence, more than $5,000 in restitution and a $1,000 fine. However, it will run consecutively to a sentence Cornutt is currently already serving out of Custer County.
The Stillwater County Attorney’s Office had recommended a 15-year DOC sentence with 10 years suspended.
Jones said the sentence was to primarily serve as a punishment, as well as provide for rehabilitation and community protection.
“I believe that society needs a break from you, Mr. Cornutt,” said Jones.
According to court documents, the Stillwater County Sheriff’s Office received a report of a forged check in the amount of $185 at the Fishtail General Store in August 2013. When the check went to the bank, it was stamped as a forgery as the account belonged to a Rapelje ranch and had been closed.
That same month, deputies were contacted by a Miles City police officer who was investigating two check forgeries committed on the same account, which totaled $950.
The account owners were questioned and denied signing any checks for Cornutt. They told deputies that Cornutt had once borrowed their truck for a family emergency and when the truck was returned, five checks were missing from their checkbook, according to court documents.
A short time later, jewelry and 1,888 silver dollars were discovered missing from the rancher’s mother’s home, where Cornutt and his wife had been staying. The ranch owner also discovered DVDs and iPods missing from his own residence.
Deputies tracked several of the jewelry pieces and two iPods down to pawn shops in Billings and through administrative warrants, were able to recover the jewelry and one iPod. The second iPod and 1,888 silver dollars had already been retrieved by Cornutt, according to court documents.
The total loss of items in the case was approximately $6,446. Deputies were able to recover $2,268 of that amount.
According to DOC, Cornutt has felony convictions for forgery, criminal distribution of dangerous drugs and issuing a bad check.