Chapter 13 - The Verdict
The jury deliberated two days.
Not instant.
Questions:
Difference between kidnapping and unlawful restraint.
Whether movement between locations mattered.
Whether Sarah needed physically fight entire time.
Judge instructed.
Then verdict.
Kidnapping Sarah.
Guilty.
Aggravated unlawful restraint/confinement.
Guilty.
Felony child endangerment/unlawful confinement of Emily.
Guilty.
Evidence tampering.
Guilty.
Identity theft tied to Michael.
Guilty on state counts.
One count alleging direct assault causing serious bodily injury to Sarah.
Not guilty because injuries did not meet charged threshold.
One count alleging conspiracy with unknown accomplice.
Not guilty.
Good.
No phantom mastermind.
Jason stood still.
Sarah cried.
I did not feel joy.
Emily was not there.
Then federal financial case.
After state verdict, Jason negotiated.
He pled guilty to wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and insurance fraud scheme involving inflated restoration invoices.
Final forensic loss amount:
Not $1.14m.
That was gross billing through fake company.
Investigators separated legitimate work.
Proven fraudulent loss:
Approximately $648,000 across insurers and clients.
Restitution ordered to affected insurers, my company losses partly under civil claim, and identity correction costs.
Trevor Miles was not charged criminally because evidence showed he had been misled about ownership initially and cooperated once concerns arose. He faced civil lawsuit from one insurer and lost client work.
No conspiracy army.
Then sentencing coordinated.
State sentence for kidnapping/confinement around fourteen years? Child confinement plus kidnapping serious. Federal maybe 7+ years partially consecutive/concurrent. Effective perhaps 19 years.
Let's make effective nineteen years and four months, with federal time partially consecutive, plus supervision and restitution. No absurd life.
Judge considered:
No prior felony record.
Serious planned financial fraud.
Deliberate framing.
Unlawful confinement.
Child harm.
Sarah alive.
Emily physically recovered.
No weapon.
No murder.
Jason spoke.
“I never intended to kill Sarah.”
No one alleged.
Then:
“I was trying to stop my life from collapsing.”
There.
He did not fully apologize.
He called fake Michael company “terrible decision.”
He admitted locking Emily:
“I panicked.”
Sarah gave victim statement:
“You kept renaming control as protection.”
Then:
“You did not need to kill us to damage us.”
I gave statement only about identity and Emily.
“He used my predictability against me.”
Then:
“I was angry man in his plan because he knew I would become one if my daughter was threatened.”
I looked at judge.
“I am responsible for how I behave. He is responsible for exploiting and fabricating.”
Then sentence.
Nineteen years four months effective.
Restitution.
No contact with Sarah/Emily during imprisonment unless Emily as adult initiates through appropriate system? Court no-contact during supervision. Prison correspondence can be blocked. Emily did not want.
Then appeals.
Jason appealed kidnapping and some evidence.
Years later one evidentiary issue led not reversal but correction of restitution category? We'll address.
Convictions affirmed.
Federal plea remained.
Case final.
Then what about house?
Sold during divorce.
Pool drained.
Black bags gone to evidence.
New family eventually bought after renovations.
Emily did not return.
Sarah received her equity share after liens/legal fees.
Jason’s share partly applied to restitution.
No fortune.
Then Carter Recovery dissolved by court/administrative.
Fake website removed.
Tax agencies corrected identity.
My company cleared.
May you like
It took two years.
No instant.
