DENVER—The sentencing on a firearms charge for a man linked by the FBI to four dead or missing people has been delayed until Thursday so more witnesses can testify.
Scott Lee Kimball, 42, faces a prison term of up to 10 years after pleading guilty in January to being a felon in possession of a weapon. He’s already serving a 48-year sentence after pleading guilty to theft and being a habitual offender.
Kimball was scheduled to be sentenced on Tuesday but there wasn’t enough time for all the witnesses.
The FBI says Kimball had connections to 24-year-old Leann Emry, whose body was found in eastern Utah in March, and 19-year-old Kaysi McLeod, whose remains were found in northwest Colorado in September. Both disappeared in 2003.
The FBI also linked Kimball to 25-year-old Jennifer Marcum, who disappeared in 2003. Kimball’s 60-year-old uncle, Terry Kimball, disappeared in 2004.
Both are missing, though Kimball has told authorities Marcum’s body is located near where Emry’s remains were found. Jim Nyland, sheriff of Utah’s Grand County, said they plan another search for Marcum’s body, though he didn’t say when.
Kimball has not been charged in the disappearances or deaths.
In a 2006 affidavit for a search warrant filed in federal court, an FBI agent said Scott Kimball picked up Kaysi McLeod from a hotel the day that she disappeared in August 2003 then lied about it afterward. The FBI wanted to search Kimball’s computers to seek information into the disappearances of Marcum, McLeod, and Terry Kimball.
Kimball was a cooperating witness with the FBI.
Rob McLeod, Kaysi McLeod’s father, attended the first day of Kimball’s sentencing hearing June 1.
“Even if it’s a small amount of time, at least it’s an acknowledgment that this is who he is,” McLeod said outside of court of the weapons case. “They’re just building bricks around him.”
The weapons charge stems from December 2005 when authorities said Kimball, who had been convicted of numerous felonies, obtained a Winchester rifle with a scope. He testified in court that he needed the rifle to hunt coyotes that were threatening his cattle on land north of Denver.
On Tuesday, prosecutors called Kimball’s mother, a brother and a former girlfriend to the stand to counter that claim and testify that he may have also possessed another gun.
Kimball faces a lighter sentence if U.S. District Judge Marcia Krieger determines the rifle was used primarily for hunting under a so-called sporting exception under federal sentencing guidelines.
Lori McLeod, Kaysi McLeod’s mother, has attended both days of Kimball’s sentencing.
“It’s mesmerizing. He’s cocky, he’s extremely intelligent,” Lori McLeod said of what she said was Kimball’s attempt to game the system. “He enjoys this.”
Kimball’s previous felony convictions include a 1989 criminal attempt to commit theft case out of Boulder County, Colo.; issuing bad checks in Beaver Head and Missoula counties in Montana; forgery in Spokane County, Wash.; and theft and escape from Lewis and Clark County, Mont., according to court documents.
He was also convicted in 2003 on a federal charge of being in possession of counterfeit securities.
