to the following alleged probation violations: (1) several

instances of failing to report to his probation officer, (2) failing to notify Probation of a

change of address, and (3) failing to comply with the restitution order. On January 19,

2011, Probation added a fourth violation, alleging that Stephens failed to inform

Probation of his purchase of real estate and incurrence of a $130,000 loan secured by a

mortgage on the real estate.

       At Stephens’s revocation hearing on February 8, 2011, pursuant to an agreement

between the parties, the Government dismissed the first and third violations and Stephens

pled guilty to the second and fourth, both C violations. After a colloquy, the District

Court accepted Stephens’s plea. The United States Sentencing Guidelines range for the

two C violations was 4–10 months imprisonment.The Government requested a six-

                                               2
month prison sentence with 24 months of supervised release. Stephens’s counsel

requested four months of house arrest followed by six months of supervised release and

pointed to the following as mitigating circumstances: (1) the violations had occurred

almost a year before the petition for revocation at a point when Stephens had almost

completed his supervised release, and (2) Stephens was unable to keep up with restitution

or child support for his three children because he was unemployed and relying on his

girlfriend and