WILLMAR -- An 18-year-old Cosmos man was sentenced Monday to 45 months in prison for his role in the March beating and kidnapping of a man over a $1,200 drug debt.
Before he was sentenced, Timmothy James Hansen asked the court for grace and told Judge Kathryn N. Smith that he reads the Bible daily and he was sorry for the actions he took while addicted to drugs.
"I'm sorry that this happened," he said. "I've done a lot of stuff I'm not proud of."
Hansen sought to be sentenced to Minnesota Teen Challenge, a residential drug treatment center in the Twin Cities. In fact, he wrote an "innumerable" number of letters to Judge Smith asking to be placed in the program and continued even after the judge ordered him to stop sending the letters.
Hansen was the instigator in the March 21 kidnapping and assault of a man who was attacked in an effort to get the drug money from his sister.
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The attack left the man with a broken nose and facial injuries.
The victim was lured to a Willmar apartment where he was knocked unconscious, blindfolded with a towel and tied up with electrical tape. Later, the group of four kidnappers drove him to the countryside west of Willmar and dumped him out on a gravel road. He managed to flee and told authorities he heard a gunshot as he ran away. He flagged down a police squad car around 5:20 a.m. and received help.
The sentence was for two felony counts to which Hansen pleaded guilty in a June plea agreement. Those counts were conspiracy to kidnap and second-degree assault. The other six felony counts, for kidnapping, assault and aggravated robbery, were dismissed.
The 45-month sentence was for the conspiracy to kidnap charge. The sentence includes that Hansen serve at least 30 months in prison, with a credit for the 116 days already served in jail, and a $1,000 fine payable with jail earnings. The sentence on the assault charge was 36 months, to run concurrently with the 45-month sentence.
Before delivering the sentence, Judge Smith encouraged Hansen to find treatment resources in prison to help with his chemical, educational and emotional issues. But, she stressed, that based on his conduct, Hansen deserved the consequences he got with the sentence.
"The defendant should regard himself as lucky," First Assistant County Attorney Connie Crowell told the court. If found guilty on all eight counts at trial, Hansen would have faced three times the prison time, she said. "A young person's life was threatened ... this person was left blindfolded in a cornfield fleeing for his life."
The co-conspirators in the case included Martin William Danielson, 16, of Willmar, his sister, Melanie Joy Danielson, 19, of Willmar, and Tyler Loren Curtis, 18, of Willmar. Both of the Danielsons have been sentenced, to shorter jail terms than Hansen received and the Danielsons will serve probation. Curtis' case is still proceeding through the court system.
