SAN MATEO COUNTY – An Oakland man was sentenced Monday to 394 years to life in jail for holding an aged lady captive in a Belmont resort room for eight months, the place he sexually abused her, denied her medical care and threatened to kill her if she left.
Ian Edard Kroe, 57, was convicted of 33 prices by a jury in February for holding and abusing the 74-year-old lady, together with one rely of felony intentional infliction of torture, 9 counts of forcible rape, 9 counts of forcible oral copulation, ten counts of forcible sodomy, false imprisonment, elder theft, elder bodily abuse and threats. The sentence was imposed by San Mateo County Superior Courtroom Choose Rachel E. Holt.
“The evidence presented in (the) courtroom was beyond shocking,” Holt mentioned on the sentencing listening to Monday morning. “This was a case where the defendant showed himself again and again to be cold and calculating.”
Deputy District Legal professional Sammy Duvvuri mentioned that the sentence was what she was anticipating.
“Looking at the facts of the case and everything that was presented, I absolutely think it was a very fair sentence in regards to what he got,” she mentioned.
Duvvuri added that the sufferer, Thea Doe, whose full title was withheld in court docket data, was “happy” with the sentence however hoped that Kroe would take extra accountability for his actions than he did.
“She’s just very relieved to put this behind her,” Duvvuri mentioned. “It’s been weighing on her in the sense that she just wanted the sentencing done so that she can really close the chapter … and move on.”
Kroe’s protection lawyer, Ross Inexperienced, declined to touch upon the sentence.
Doe had reached out to Kroe in 2016 to precise her condolences in regards to the dying of his mom, prosecutors mentioned. They started a friendship, and he or she moved to New Mexico to be nearer to him. After Doe agreed to accompany Kroe on a street journey to Oregon, he held her in a resort in Belmont “virtually as a prisoner” from 2020 to 2022.
For eight months of that point, Doe was not allowed to depart the room below menace of dying, prosecutors mentioned. Kroe raped Doe quite a few occasions, and he denied Doe medical care when she broke her ankle in 2021. Doe was rescued in August 2022 after secretly contacting a good friend in New Mexico. When police arrived, they discovered Doe bare and bruised, with a damaged finger.
In February, the jury additionally discovered enhancements for sophistication, nice violence and a very weak sufferer to be true.
On the listening to Monday, Duvvuri requested the utmost sentence for Kroe, including that the trial didn’t do justice to Doe’s ache.
“I don’t think in my time as a prosecutor I’ve seen a case like this … The facts of this case are heinous,” Duvvuri mentioned. “He has absolutely no remorse for anything he’s done to Thea.”
Doe mentioned in a written assertion to the court docket, learn by Duvvuri, that she has suffered long-lasting impacts from her time in Kroe’s captivity, together with signs of post-traumatic stress dysfunction, hassle strolling as a result of denial of medical look after her damaged ankle and two enamel misplaced from denial of dental care.
“Before the crime, I felt secure in my life’s course,” Doe mentioned within the assertion, including that she had written an area newspaper column, labored as a volunteer firefighter and had a horse she skilled and rode.
Due to the crime, Doe’s cats and vegetation died when she was refrained from dwelling, she misplaced her cash, her home was robbed of her jewellery and he or she was left with no earnings besides Social Safety and meals stamps, she mentioned within the assertion. She will not hike or bike due to the accidents to her ankle, and he or she misplaced many associates, she added.
“My experience made me question my ability to trust people and their intentions,” she mentioned within the assertion. “My gate is always closed … There is no going back to who I was or who I might’ve been.”
In his feedback, Inexperienced disputed some specifics of the case, stating that Kroe was not current when Doe broke her ankle and that the harm would have probably healed equally, even with medical therapy, attributable to her age, which Duvvuri disputed. He additionally requested the court docket to contemplate Kroe’s lack of a previous report past a 25-year-old petty theft cost.
Through the listening to, Kroe, sitting in a wheelchair, had trembling fingers as he jotted down notes with a small pencil. Inexperienced requested a continuance for the listening to on the grounds that Kroe was struggling a medical emergency however was denied as a result of the Courtroom noticed the identical shaking he exhibited all through his trial.
In a single occasion in February’s trial, Kroe had begun to convulse and shake and claimed that he was affected by hallucinations. At the moment, Holt denied a competency listening to after laying out proof for why she believed his signs have been fabricated.
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“I am incoherent and disadvantaged and disenfranchised,” Kroe mentioned to the court docket, including that his mom requested him to handle Doe and stating that he helped her get medical health insurance. He additionally spoke a number of occasions of being denied his treatment. Holt lower off his feedback when he started repeating himself.
When requested if he understood the directions on enchantment his case, Kroe mentioned no. As Holt learn out Kroe’s sentence, he frequently tried to interrupt her chatting with make motions to dismiss his lawyer and enchantment the case.
Holt granted Kroe’s request for a Marsden movement, which is a request for a brand new public defender. The movement will probably be thought-about on Tuesday’s grasp calendar. Kroe may also seem in court docket for a restitution listening to Oct. 29.
