Sentenced: Judge Admonishes Welder Who Branded & Tortured Man With Blowtorch Over Stolen Drugs

[Sugar Cookie]

A 31-year-old man in Nebraska will spend several decades behind bars for kidnapping and torturing a man he believed had robbed him, using a blowtorch to brand him with the word “thief” before leaving him tied up to die in a rural country area.

Lancaster County District Court Judge Susan I. Strong ordered Tanner Danielson to serve a sentence of 70 to 90 years in prison, court records reviewed by Law&Crime show.

Danielson — who also forcibly raped a woman who had been with the man he tortured — pleaded no contest in June to one count of attempted kidnapping and one count of first-degree sexual assault. Judge Strong ordered Danielson to serve 40 to 50 years on the first count and 30 to 40 years on the second count, with the two sentences running concurrently. She also credited him with 195 days already served.

According to the sentencing order, Danielson will first be eligible for parole after serving at least 35 years in prison.

During the sentencing hearing, Judge Strong addressed Danielson, telling him his actions amounted to “one of the most heinous factual scenarios” she had ever encountered, Lincoln, Nebraska, ABC affiliate KLKN reported.

At about 8:30 a.m. on July 29, police said the Gage County Sheriff’s Office contacted the department regarding a man found “bound and walking down a rural road with obvious injuries.” The man — later identified as the 26-year-old torture victim — told investigators he had been kidnapped in Lincoln, Nebraska, and taken to an unknown location in Gage County. Investigators said they also learned that a woman with the man had also been kidnapped, beaten, and sexually assaulted.

“The man reported Danielson and 27-year-old Austin Widhalm took him to an area he was unfamiliar with and tied him to a tree while still bound,” police wrote in a press release. “He was eventually able to free himself and left the area walking until finding a Gage County Sheriff’s Deputy. He was taken to a local hospital where he was treated for his injuries.”

The man, who had two black eyes, was taken to Beatrice Hospital, where he was treated for severe burn marks on his face, arms, and legs, the Lincoln Star Journal reported. He reportedly told police he had been “beaten, burned with a blowtorch, and branded,” with the latter referring to Danielson, a former welder, burning the word “thief” onto his skin. He also said the men force-fed him acid.

Judge Strong reportedly said, “only a sadistic and evil person could do these things to another human being.”

The victim reportedly told police that the ambush attack likely stemmed from him stealing about 50 pounds of marijuana that Danielson had purchased in Colorado.

Following the arrests, Danielson eventually told investigators that he feared for his life and what would happen to him if he did not get the drugs back.

Stunned judge admonishes welder who tortured man with blowtorch, branded 'thief' on his skin

Tanner Danielson was sentenced to decades in prison for torturing another man with a blowtorch and branding him with "thief" over stolen drugs.

lawandcrime.com

 

[Metalfan]

Welding,fantastic career! Weed dealing not so much, its legal or licensed in most places in the country.Why bother you fucking idiot!

 

[Kitsune Faye]

He’s my age (will be 32 Saturday), and will rot in prison, and rightfully so. GET BENT, Tania. The mens gon love you up, gurl. Oof, gurl, AND you got pretty lips? Train time! Choo Choo, bitch!

 

[thuumpr]

Let's see...

Stole 50 pounds of weed the suspect bought in Colorado.

Poor quality weed in Colorado (according to Google - not personal experience) is going for $250 an ounce.

I'm thinking $200,000 isn't something these asshats could come up with.

 

[Sejanus]

So the victim did steal the drugs? Interesting.
The sexual assault on the female is completely inexcusable.
As for The Branding that too is inexcusable.
However the burns... I could go either way on that depending upon how severe they were.
In a case like this the only possible way he might have gotten away with any of this and I hate to say it is if you made sure there were no witnesses including his accomplice and the female.
Fortunately he is stupid and careless.

The bottom line is the idiot perp has secured his future in prison likely better than any welding joint he ever performed. He looks just pretty enough for them to really have a go-round at him behind bars

 

[Sugar Cookie]

Lancaster County District Judge Susan I. Strong on Thursday ordered Austin Widhalm to serve a sentence of 16 to 22 years in a state correctional facility over the gruesome attack, authorities confirmed to Law&Crime.

Widhalm pleaded no contest last month to one count of second-degree assault and one count of first-degree false imprisonment. Strong sentenced Widhalm to 14 to 19 years on the assault charge and two to three years on the false imprisonment charge, to be served consecutively, meaning one after the other.

Widhalm’s co-defendant in the case, Tanner Danielson, pleaded no contest in June to one count of attempted kidnapping and one count of first-degree sexual assault. Strong sentenced Danielson last week to 40 to 50 years on the first count and 30 to 40 years on the second count, with the two sentences running concurrently.

'A horrific event': Man who helped and brand 'thief' on victim over stolen drugs learns fate

Austin Widhalm was sentenced to more than 10 years in prison for his role in torturing and branding a man with a blow torch because he and his co-defendant suspected he had stolen drugs.

lawandcrime.com

 

[cubby]

Austin Widholm looks like somebody's already been knocking at his back door. How rude!

 

[roadsidehorror]

I’m all for branding flower thieves. Branding coulda made a come back. But Noooo!!! Ya had to act like a primate……..

 

[Symmachus]

The first guy looks like a failed late-2000s male model inspired by Zoolander and who started out on Myspace. The second guy looks like someone who works two cubicles down but whom you'd suspect is secretly a practicing Satanist.