South Carolina Man Receives 35-Year Sentence on Federal Kidnapping Charge
U.S. Attorney’s Office April 06, 2012 |
Syracuse, NY—United States Attorney Richard S. Hartunian announced that Arnold C. Fox, age 32, originally from Ravenel, South Carolina, was sentenced today in United States District Court in Utica, New York to a term of 35 years in federal prison following his conviction on a federal kidnapping charge.
In August of last year, Fox pled guilty to the December 2009 kidnapping of a 21-year-old woman he met after posting a fraudulent online advertisement for a non-existent job at a non-existent horse farm. When the woman answered his ad, he lured her across state lines into Pennsylvania and days later physically and sexually assaulted her. He left her in a Weedsport, New York hotel unconscious, bound, and bleeding from a severe head wound. She was later discovered by hotel staff. Fox fled New York in the woman’s vehicle and admitted to authorities that after stealing her car, he switched the license plates in South Carolina before escaping to Florida.
Despite his efforts to elude detection, Fox was apprehended by the FBI in Miami just days later and found to be in possession of a number of handguns. He was convicted in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida as a felon in possession of firearms and received a 40-month sentence for that offense.
Today, United States District Judge Honorable David N. Hurd ordered Fox’s 35-year sentence to run consecutively to the Florida sentence, for a total of 460 months. In addition, Fox was ordered to pay over $20,000 in restitution to the victim and her family for expenses they incurred as a result of his crime. Fox was also ordered to serve five years of supervised release upon completion of his sentence of imprisonment.
Fox’s arrest was the result of a collaborative investigation by the Cayuga County Sheriff’s Office, the Cayuga County District Attorney’s Office, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Syracuse, Columbia, and Miami. Forensic evidence critical to the case was analyzed at the Wallie Howard, Jr. Center for Forensic Sciences. Fox was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Lisa Fletcher, who can be reached at 315-448-0672.