Casper man gets 37- to 45-year sentence on child sexual abuse charges

CASPER, Wyo. — A Casper man was sentenced to 45 years in prison on Thursday for developing a relationship with a preteen girl that turned sexual and resulted in a multi-state manhunt after he fled with her in November 2022.

Martin was sentenced in back-to-back hearings before a federal and state judge at the Ewing T. Kerr Federal Courthouse in Casper. The manhunt resulted in federal charges for transporting a minor across state lines to engage sexual conduct that would constitute a criminal offense in that state.

After cleaning out his family’s shared bank account and quitting his job, Martin picked up the victim from school and began heading south. Chief Deputy District Attorney Blaine Nelson said they believe he was heading for Mexico.

Casper Police Department investigators executed search warrants on Martin’s email accounts, finding a confirmation for a hotel reservation in Sedona, Arizona, according to the federal complaint. Shortly after the AMBER Alert was issued there, Martin’s license plate was captured by a plate reader on the highway outside Parker, Arizona. La Paz County deputies quickly pulled Martin over and he was taken into custody without further incident.

The victim, now 16, told Seventh Judicial District Court Judge Dan Forgey at sentencing Thursday that she spent that night in custody after trying to elude the authorities.

Nelson said that the victim had been effectively “brainwashed” at that point. He said that Martin had provided her alcohol as part of the grooming process and entrenched himself in her life and isolated her: gaining access to her school email and providing new phones to communicate when her guardians took a phone away.

“He made my world revolve around him,” the victim told Judge Forgey. She said it is difficult to make friends now due to the notoriety of the case. She and Martin had been identified together in the AMBER alert that accompanied the manhunt over two years ago.

Two counts of first-degree sexual abuse of a minor were among the charges that Martin pleaded guilty to in the state case. The charge carries up to 50 years in prison, and is due to Martin being in a position of authority over the victim. Martin was a member of the victim’s extended family by marriage, and the families spent time together frequently, the case record showed.

Speaking to the judges, the victim’s former guardian described the “sheer terror” starting from the day the girl was abducted from school, and that many involved now have difficulty trusting each other and others in the community. She described the changes in the victim’s demeanor in the months leading up to the abduction.

Attorney Keith Nachbar, acting as Martin’s federal public defender, told the court that Martin had no criminal history and that there was no evidence of predatory attraction to minors in general. He said Martin had been unhappy in his marriage and the victim had been affectionate towards him.

“He’s very sorry he got caught up in the feelings of the moment,” Nachbar said. He asked Judge Forgey to consider a 12- to 14-year sentence.

Judge Skavdahl told Martin that his conduct was “abberant” in light of his apparent intelligence and lawful life he’d lived up until the circumstances of the case. “It takes but a selfish moment to destroy everything you’ve done,” Skavdahl said.

Judge Forgey imposed 37 to 45 years on the most serious charges, effectively the maximum allowed by the plea agreement.

Martin will get credit for 797 days served.