Authorities with the Salt Lake City Police Department recently arrested a man after he allegedly robbed a bank of $1 with the goal of getting arrested and going to federal prison.
The strange scenario unfolded on Monday in Utah when 65-year-old Donald Santacroce went into a Wells Fargo and presented a note demanding the money, KSL.com reported, citing a police booking affidavit: "Please pardon me for doing this but this is a robbery. Please give me $1. Thank you," the note reportedly read.
The money was forked over and Santacroce was asked to depart, but the man told the teller to contact the police, the affidavit indicates, according to the outlet. While waiting for authorities, Santacroce made a comment to the victims suggesting that they were lucky he did not have a firearm because it was taking authorities so long to arrive. "At this point the branch manager said she ushered all of her employees into a back room for their safety where she locked the doors," the affidavit indicates, according to the outlet.
Santacroce's wish was ultimately granted: Authorities arrested him. "Officers booked Santacroce into the Salt Lake County Metro Jail on one count of robbery," according to a Salt Lake City Police Department press release.
"Donald said he had done this because he wanted to get arrested and go to federal prison. Donald stated that if he gets out of jail, he will rob another bank and ask for more money next time trying to get the desired result of going to federal prison," the arrest report notes, according to KSL.com.
The outlet reported that Utah Highway Patrol had recently arrested the individual for investigation of DUI and careless driving and that authorities had indicated that the man had been driving with a license which had been suspended out of Missouri.
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A Michigan man who stalked and raped a 14-year-old girl — and pulled off her braces with pliers after enticing her to run away from her Texas home — was sentenced to life in federal prison Thursday, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported, citing U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Chad Meacham.
A federal jury in June convicted 22-year-old Thomas John Boukamp on 16 counts, the paper said: one count of transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual conduct, one count of travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct, one count of enticement of a minor, two counts of receipt of child pornography, 10 counts of production and attempted production of child pornography, and one count of cyberstalking.
Boukamp met the child — identified in court as Jane Doe — on the instant messaging platform Discord when she was just 13, the Star-Telegram said, citing federal authorities. They exchanged messages — including some detailing threats to hurt the young girl's family if she disclosed their “relationship" — and Boukamp later brought her to Michigan, the paper reported.
Once she was in Michigan, Boukamp kept Jane Doe in his home where he sexually assaulted her, forcibly removed her braces with pliers, strangled her, and hit her, the Star-Telegram said.
The girl's father testified in court that when she ran away to Michigan, his terrified daughter brought her baby blanket with her, the paper added.
“This man stalked and sexually assaulted a 14-year-old, then had the gall to claim in federal court that their so-called ‘relationship’ was consensual,” Meacham said in a Thursday news release, the Star-Telegram said. “The child, who bravely faced her abuser in court, asserted in no uncertain terms that his advances were unwelcome. By law, 14-year-olds simply cannot consent to sexual contact with adults. We are immensely proud of this child and hope this sentence brings some solace to her and her family."
At Thursday’s sentencing hearing, prosecutors introduced as evidence a recorded jailhouse phone call in which Boukamp said he wouldn't apologize for “quote unquote raping a 14-year-old," the paper reported.
“I like teenage girls! They don’t like that I like that,” Boukamp said of federal agents and prosecutors, according to the Star-Telegram. “I frankly don’t care what the morality of this current time and place says. It’s not wrong. There’s nothing wrong about it. And they’re not going to ever convince me of its wrongness. So up theirs. I hate this nation.”
When Boukamp was reminded that authorities were monitoring his jailhouse phone calls, he threatened, “If you’re listening to this, yeah, your family is going to die," the paper reported.
The girl’s father submitted a statement to the court describing his daughter's continuing trauma, the Star-Telegram added: “Her childhood was ended too soon. He took that from her. She struggles with her self-esteem. I don’t know if she’ll ever be able to truly love herself again … We hope that she can be okay. We hope that she can make it through this. We know that she will never be the same. We know that she will never get her innocence back.”
U.S. District Judge James Wesley Hendrix issued Boukamp's sentence, the paper said.
Here's a video news report about Boukamp's conviction in June:
Michigan man convicted of stalking, sexually assaulting Texas girl, 14youtu.be
A woman who pleaded guilty to setting fire to five Seattle police cars during George Floyd rioting in 2020 was sentenced to five years in federal prison Tuesday, the Seattle Times reported.
Margaret Aislinn Channon was arrested June 11, 2020, after federal agents and Seattle police identified her from video showing an individual with distinctive clothing and unique tattoos on her hands setting fire to the vehicles, the paper said.
U.S. District Court Judge John Coughenour told the 26-year-old during sentencing that her actions resulted in “tremendous damage to Black Lives Matter in Seattle," the Times noted.
Channon also broke into downtown businesses and stole clothing and other items, the paper said, adding that court documents indicated she admitted smashing the window at a Verizon store and entering a sandwich shop and destroying the electronic cash register.
“The right to protest, gather, and call out injustices is one of the dearest and most important rights we enjoy in the United States,” U.S. Attorney Nick Brown noted, according to the Times. “Indeed, our democracy depends on both exercising and protecting these rights. But Ms. Channon’s conduct was itself an attack on democracy.”
Brown added that Channon “used the cover of lawful protests to carry out dangerous and destructive acts, risking the safety of everyone around her and undermining the important messages voiced by others," the paper said.
Federal prosecutors added that Channon endangered the lives of hundreds of protesters when she used a lighter and an aerosol can to create a blowtorch to set a vehicle ablaze, the Times said, citing sentencing documents.
“Hundreds of people were standing in the vicinity of the police cars that Channon burned, some only a few feet away,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Todd Greenberg wrote, according to the paper. “All of them were in harm’s way if one of the vehicles had exploded.”
Channon has agreed to pay restitution for the burned vehicles as part of a plea agreement, the Times said.
The following is a news report that aired following Channon's arrest in 2020:
Federal agents arrest Tacoma woman accused of setting Seattle police cars on fire during recent protyoutu.be
(H/T: Hot Air)
Hope was sparked this week that Trump could quell the zeal of the DOJ that has been actively pursuing pro-lifers in recent years.
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