To Ramsey County sheriff’s investigator Jessica O’Hern, Nathan Homme’s intentions were clear. She and her colleagues found shotguns, latex gloves, a blindfold and instructions to “box her in the trunk” stashed inside his western Wisconsin home last spring.
They found the “kidnapping kit” among several other concerning items when they executed a search warrant at the 40-year-old man’s house. They were investigating a report that he was suspected of breaking into his ex-wife’s garage in Shoreview and attaching a GPS tracking device to her vehicle, court records say.
“I think he was going to kidnap and kill her and potentially their daughter,” O’Hern said of Homme’s aims when she spoke following his sentencing hearing in Ramsey County District Court Monday.
That’s why O’Hern said she was troubled by the Ramsey County attorney’s office decision to drop the kidnapping charge facing Homme in exchange for his guilty plea to one count of first-degree burglary.
Still, she said she trusted the prosecutors to make the best decisions for the case. O’Hern attended the hearing because she wanted to observe the culmination of her investigation.
The plea agreement called for sentencing Homme to a stayed 21-month sentence and placing him on probation for an indeterminate amount of time, while also requiring him to register as a predatory offender.
JUDGE: AN ‘OMINOUS’ CRIME
On Monday, Ramsey County District Judge Kelly Olmstead decided the severity of Homme’s crime warranted up to 10 years of probation, giving him the chance to prove to her over time that the duration should be less.
While well aware that “movement is afoot” to shorten the amount of time defendants spend on probation in Minnesota’s criminal justice reform community, Olmstead said Homme’s case is an exception.
She added that she didn’t buy his claims that he never intended to harm his ex-wife or children, saying she had “significant concerns” for their safety given the “ominous” nature of his actions.
DEFENSE: NO INTENT TO HARM
Homme’s ex-wife and several of her supporters attended Monday’s sentencing. She declined to comment after the sentencing, and also declined the chance to have the victim-impact statement she submitted to Olmstead read aloud during the hearing.
Homme also declined to make a statement when Olmstead gave him the chance.
His attorney, Alexander Rogosheske, had asked the judge to limit Homme’s probation to five years.
“He accepts responsibility for the burglary and maintains he never intended to harm anyone or kidnap anyone,” Rogosheske said.
In addition to probation and registering as a sex-offender, Olmstead ordered Homme to complete domestic abuse counseling, undergo a psychiatric evaluation and refrain from any contact from his ex-wife or children.
He may eventually be granted visitation rights with his children depending on the outcome of his case in family court.
A BIT OF THE EVIDENCE
Homme was arrested after security camera images at his ex-wife’s home showed a masked intruder entering her garage using the keypad. Homme’s cellphone data indicated he had been in the area at the time, court documents say.
Law enforcement later found a GPS tracking device on his ex’s Honda Element.
In addition to the items in his Eau Claire-area house, law enforcement found what they characterized as the “outline of a plan,” according to the criminal complaint filed in the case.
It read:
“1. First stop-box, hockey bag, duct tape, hand cuff, blow torch, nails, garbage bags, my fresh clothes.”
“2. House code, shoes off, bedroom blitz, dt gag, handcuff, legs, hood) plus pillow …
“3. Box her in trunk. Drive Element to Wilson P. Put box in trunk.”
A couple of months before the burglary, a child-support magistrate issued an order suspending Homme’s ex-wife’s child-support obligations to Homme, as he had moved nearly 100 miles away and was no longer co-parenting.