A U.S. District Court jury has convicted a Rogers man of conspiracy and kidnapping for helping abduct a woman so she wouldn't testify against her ex-boyfriend in a pending criminal case that threatened his National Guard career.
The federal court jury in Fayetteville returned guilty verdicts Tuesday on both counts against Theron Vance, 22, after a two-day trial before U.S. District Judge Timothy Brooks.
Vance will be sentenced after a pre-sentence investigation by the court's probation office. According to the U.S. attorney's office, Vance could be sentenced to up to life in prison and fined up to $250,000 on each count.
Vance was accused of planning the kidnapping of 27-year-old Yulu Zhang, who was the ex-girlfriend of his friend and National Guard superior Michael Roberts, 25. The men abducted Zhang from her Dallas home June 13 and took her to Roberts' apartment in Bentonville.
In an interview with Bentonville police after his arrest June 16, Vance said he and Roberts planned for four months to kill Zhang and make it appear that she committed suicide, a Bentonville police probable-cause affidavit said. He said Roberts changed his mind and decided not to kill her but to hold her until the trial was over.
Roberts was charged in Collin County Court in Texas with terroristic threatening of a family or household member, assault on a family member and unlawful restraint.
Roberts and a third co-defendant in the case, Jason Petitt, 25, pleaded guilty last fall to conspiracy charges in exchange for dismissal of the kidnapping charges.
Roberts and Petitt remained in jail Wednesday, pending sentencing.
In Vance's interview with police, he said he was in the National Guard with Roberts. He looked up to Roberts and agreed to help him silence Zhang.
Vance told investigators that Roberts was concerned a felony conviction based on Zhang's testimony would ruin his military career, the affidavit said.
After planning Zhang's abduction and following her to and from work in Dallas, the two approached her June 13 as she returned home from work.
Zhang told police she saw a man with blond hair approach her as she unlocked her apartment door, then recognized the man as Roberts wearing a wig. He grabbed her by the throat and forced her into the apartment, she said in the affidavit.
At that point, Vance stepped up, showed her a badge and announced he was with the FBI, and Roberts released his grip.
Zhang said that when Roberts threatened to kill her if she did not go with them, she agreed to cooperate. She packed a bag and left a note, dictated by Roberts, telling her roommate that she had to go to China.
She also left a note in the refrigerator, unknown to Roberts and Vance, that said "Call 911." Dallas police found the notes when Bentonville investigators alerted them to Zhang's kidnapping.
En route to Arkansas, the three stopped at a truck stop in Eufaula, Okla., the affidavit said, and Zhang left another note in a restroom saying she had been kidnapped by Roberts and Vance. The note included the Arkansas tag number of Vance's Ford Explorer.
The affidavit said that the next day about noon, Zhang and Roberts went to a Wal-Mart store in Bentonville. Zhang went into a women's restroom and gave a note to a Wal-Mart employee that said she had been kidnapped by her ex-boyfriend and that he was keeping her at his apartment at 807 S.W. Krug St.
Roberts was arrested shortly afterward.
Vance testified during the trial. His attorney, James Moore of Fayetteville, said his client told the jury that Roberts asked him to accompany him to Texas on June 13 for one of his court appearances. When they arrived in Dallas, Roberts told him there was no court appearance but he wanted to talk to Zhang.
Moore said Vance testified that he never saw Roberts attack Zhang at her apartment and that Zhang was a willing participant to accompany them back to Arkansas.
Vance didn't have contact with Roberts or Zhang until the next day when, Vance said, Roberts called him and told him that Zhang had told police that Vance and Roberts kidnapped her.
According to Moore, Vance testified Roberts told him to get rid of anything left in Vance's Explorer from the trip. The police affidavit said police recovered a blond wig, a razor blade and some zip ties.
Moore admitted that the videotaped confession Vance gave Bentonville police of his role in the kidnapping was damning to Vance's case. But he said Vance testified that investigators forced him to say what they wanted by threatening to bring charges of harboring a fugitive against his father.
Metro on 03/20/2015