WILLMAR -- The 65-year-old Spicer man accused of harassing his neighbors was sentenced Thursday to a year in jail, with 320 days stayed, a $3,000 fine, of which $2,500 was stayed, and a year of probation. He was also ordered to complete an anger management pr-ogram.
The sentence for Donald Bruce Schrupp was handed down by Judge Kathryn N. Smith in Kandiyohi County District Court. He was found guilty in March after a four-day jury trial of a gross misdemeanor for harassment/stalking and five misdemeanors for violation of a harassment restraining order, disorderly conduct and property damage.
The jury acquitted him of a felony for second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon for attempting to run over Harry and Karen Johanson with a vehicle in December 2006.
Schrupp will begin serving his 45-day sentence Monday and was given credit for 10 days already served. He was ordered to serve concurrent sentences of 45 days in jail on the misdemeanor charges and was fined a total of $250 on those charges. He was ordered to have no contact with the Johansons and stay a quarter-mile from their home.
Restitution in the case will be the subject of another hearing. An affidavit of restitution requesting $58,139 in restitution for the Johansons was filed Wednesday. They are seeking $34,125 for trees to replace the estimated 200 that Schrupp cut down on their property and another $22,825.50 in labor to plant the trees.
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Even in the statements during the sentencing hearing, Schrupp and the Johansons continued to trade barbs and call each other liars. Each has had harassment restraining orders against the other, and the Johansons filed a civil lawsuit against Schrupp.
"I don't know where to begin or where to end it, so I'll just end it," Schrupp told the judge.
Just before that statement, Schrupp told the judge that he was not protected by his harassment restraining order or law enforcement, that he wasn't off the easement that allowed access to his home and that he never threatened Harry Johanson with a brush saw. The easement allowed Schrupp to use the common driveway, which is on land owned by the Johansons.
During their testimony, the Johansons told the judge their family and friends and business customers either don't come to the house or are uncomfortable because of Schrupp's bizarre actions. "We've lost three years of our lives because of this," Harry Johanson testified. "The stress, the sleepless nights, we would never know what he would do next."
"Your honor, I can't live like this no more, I want my life back," Karen Johanson said, breaking down in tears. "He's tried to kill us, I can't live this way no more."
Assistant County Attorney John Kallestad argued that Schrupp was "very clearly not amenable to probation" and asked the judge to order him to serve 180 days in jail with staggered 45-day jail segments that could be deferred.
Schrupp's attorney, Thomas Van Hon, argued that Schrupp be sentenced to the jail time he had already served in the case. He called the Johansons "delusional" about their relationship to firearms, suggesting that they filmed Schrupp with the video camera in one hand and a gun in the other.
The charges are part of a long-running feud between the parties that escalated in December 2006 when, according to court documents, Schrupp sped his vehicle toward the Johansons and forced them to move quickly or be hit. They share a common driveway along the 16000 block of 92nd Street Northeast in Spicer. Both had restraining orders against each other and the Johansons videotaped Schrupp's unusual actions frequently. Law enforcement officers were called by the parties numerous times from the summer of 2005 until the December 2006 incident.
