Kentucky man sentenced to life in prison in kidnapping over a botched drug deal
A southeastern Kentucky man who kidnapped and sexually assaulted a woman after a drug deal went bad has been sentenced to life in prison.
A jury in federal court convicted Jake Messer, 39, of Whitley County, on charges of kidnapping a man and his girlfriend in April 2018.
Messer believed the male victim, who was not named in court documents, had stolen $10,000 that Messer had provided to buy marijuana, according to court documents.
The man thought he had arranged to buy marijuana, but the purported dealers were con men who stole the cash, Todd E. Tremaine, a special agent with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said in an affidavit.
Messer directed the kidnapping of the man in an effort to figure out if he was involved in taking the money, and kidnapped the man’s girlfriend as what one witness called “human collateral,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Jenna Reed said in a sentencing memorandum.
Messer and others threatened the two and detained them for about 24 hours.
During that time, Messer raped the woman and then his father, George Oscar Messer, bound her wrists and ankles with duct tape and sexually assaulted her while holding a pistol, Reed said.
Jake Messer’s attorney argued in a sentencing memorandum that the woman had consensual sex with Messer in order to maintain her access to drugs.
Reed, however, said the argument that the woman engaged in consensual sex during an armed kidnapping “flies in the face of common sense.”
U.S. District Judge Robert E. Wier sentenced Messer in federal court in London.
Messer had a prior conviction for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and other drugs.
George Oscar Messer also received a life sentence in the case but has filed a notice of appeal.
