Sackett is sentenced in sex sting case

SANDPOINT — A Priest Lake businessman who made headlines taking on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was ordered to serve a year and a day in prison after being targeted in a sex trafficking sting in North Dakota.

Michael Thomas Sackett was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Daniel Hovland on Aug. 25 in Bismarck, N.D., federal court records indicate. Sackett was originally charged with attempted sex trafficking, but pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of coercion and enticement.

Sackett, 48, faced up 71 months in federal prison, but Hovland departed from the sentencing guidelines in the case due to his lack of a prior criminal record, long history of gainful employment and compliance with his conditions of release while the case was pending, according to a Bismarck Tribune report.

Sackett was arrested in 2013 after responding to an ad posted to Backpage.com, a website commonly used for prostitution. Sackett exchanged several text messages with an undercover officer and agreed to pay $150 for 30 minutes with what he believed to be a 12-year-old girl, the Tribune reported.

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