In looking at the events of John’s life from the time he was released on his robbery convictions in 1997 until his indictment on federal firearms charges in 2006, it’s clear when things began to unravel.
We’ve covered John’s business activities during this period--his security business, the strip club he was an owner of (er, we’ve covered one of them -- stay tuned), and his admitted involvement in narcotics trafficking and gun running for the Hell’s Angels. It’s clear John had a lot going on. However long he was able to keep all of these balls in the air, by mid-2004 John’s life was starting to unravel.
Aside from making buddies with a double murderer right after getting out of prison in 1997, John’s criminal history is relatively light between 1997 and 2004 -- one citation for littering in 1998, one for failing to have valid car registration in 1999, one for invalid license plates in 2000 and one for speeding in 2002.
In 2001 John was arrested for 3rd degree assault (a misdemeanor), then again the next week for “assault by mutual consent.” Apparently he was trying to organize a fight club of sorts, but doing so without a proper sports or boxing license. Those sticky rules and regulations do tend to get in the way of John’s fun.
In June of 2004, John was cited for speeding. Not a big deal, except that he failed to appear in court or respond to the summons. It is the first indication that John was beginning to lose his grip--and the first, but not the the last, time he would fail to show up for court.
Sonya was born a month later in July of 2004, but the relationship between John and Sonya’s biological mother Christina Rosenthal deteriorated pretty quickly, and by April of 2005, when Sonya was about 9 months old, the couple had split up. Christina filed for and received a protection order against John. It wouldn’t be the last one filed against him.
In early October 2005 there was a hearing in Tennessee family court about Sonya, who had now been there for about three months. John was notified of the hearing and had the option to appear personally (in which case he likely could have walked away with from court with her) or to hire an attorney to represent him. He declined to do either … he just didn’t turn up, and didn’t notify the court in any way. With no word from Sonya’s biological father, the court found Sonya abandoned and placed her into the custody of DCS. We’ve covered some of why John might have been too busy to go and get Sonya, but there is probably another reason that we’ll get to below.
To be fair to John -- or at least, fair to the history of events -- John did send his friend Joshua Kidder and a buddy to Tennessee with orders to bring Sonya back just before this hearing. The police though declined to release Sonya to them and told John he’d have to come personally. John was, shall we say, displeased with Kidder’s failure.
John’s bad luck with the courts continued on December 5, 2005 when he was arrested and charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm. It was a state-level charge, and ultimately dismissed once he was indicted in federal court. He was released on $10,000 bond.
About a week later on December 13--while out on bail--John was cited for not having valid license plates on his car. Once again he couldn’t seem to show up for a court date--his own this time. He failed to pay the fine or appear, and had a bench warrant issued for his arrest.
Two weeks later John was pulled over again - this time cited for driving without his license and having no valid registration. As part of his sentence his driver’s license was suspended.
A little less than a month later on January 11, 2006 John was cited once more--again for driving without his license and having no registration, but now also for driving with a suspended license. Once more John couldn’t be bothered to show up for court or respond to a summons, and so once more a bench warrant was issued for his arrest.
Starting to notice a pattern? John seems allergic to showing up for court.
Two weeks later on January 24 he was pulled over and cited for not having proper registration on his car. His license was further suspended.
It was around this time that it seems John must have finally noticed that Sonya was gone. And that Kidder had failed in his mission to bring her back. Because right around this time is when John beat the crap out of Kidder, who then fearing for his own safety also got a protection order issued against John.
John was pulled over again on February 28 for speeding. We’ll come back to this traffic stop in a minute.
Two weeks later John was pulled over again -- I’m starting to sound like a broken record -- this time for having improper lights and driving with a suspended license. John kept up his habit of thumbing his nose at the law, failing to appear and getting arrested again on a bench warrant. He spent two days in jail, but it didn’t seem to matter.
John’s last traffic stop -- for this cycle anyways -- came on April 20, when he was pulled over for failure to stop and, you guessed it, driving with a suspended license. And to make sure he went out with consistency, he once more failed to appear and had a bench warrant issued for his arrest. This turned out to be a really bad day for John -- it was the same day he was indicted by a federal grand jury on two charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
The first charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm stemmed from his arrest on December 5, 2005. But the second charge stemmed from that traffic stop in February. Suffice it to say the police found a lot more interesting things in John’s car when they pulled him over.
Here’s a copy of the police report from that traffic stop. John was pulled over for speeding -- 77 in a 65. But in the course of executing that traffic stop, the police also found a gun in John’s car, along with … meth and drug paraphernalia. Yup - John was apparently using some of the product he was trafficking. Oh, and he was still driving on a suspended license.
Nebraska ultimately indicted John on felony gun possession (for the second time), and possession of meth. Oh, and for kicks - another charge of failure to appear. Because yet again after being released on bail, John couldn’t be bothered to show up for court. They were kind enough to dismiss the charges once John was federally indicted.
As part of his plea deal with the federal government, the prosecution was required to describe what they would have proven had the case gone to trial. Here is the assistant US Attorney, Christian Martinez, telling the court what the government would have proven had John not pled guilty and insisted on going to trial:
We’ve covered John’s business activities during this period--his security business, the strip club he was an owner of (er, we’ve covered one of them -- stay tuned), and his admitted involvement in narcotics trafficking and gun running for the Hell’s Angels. It’s clear John had a lot going on. However long he was able to keep all of these balls in the air, by mid-2004 John’s life was starting to unravel.
Aside from making buddies with a double murderer right after getting out of prison in 1997, John’s criminal history is relatively light between 1997 and 2004 -- one citation for littering in 1998, one for failing to have valid car registration in 1999, one for invalid license plates in 2000 and one for speeding in 2002.
In 2001 John was arrested for 3rd degree assault (a misdemeanor), then again the next week for “assault by mutual consent.” Apparently he was trying to organize a fight club of sorts, but doing so without a proper sports or boxing license. Those sticky rules and regulations do tend to get in the way of John’s fun.
In June of 2004, John was cited for speeding. Not a big deal, except that he failed to appear in court or respond to the summons. It is the first indication that John was beginning to lose his grip--and the first, but not the the last, time he would fail to show up for court.
Sonya was born a month later in July of 2004, but the relationship between John and Sonya’s biological mother Christina Rosenthal deteriorated pretty quickly, and by April of 2005, when Sonya was about 9 months old, the couple had split up. Christina filed for and received a protection order against John. It wouldn’t be the last one filed against him.
In early October 2005 there was a hearing in Tennessee family court about Sonya, who had now been there for about three months. John was notified of the hearing and had the option to appear personally (in which case he likely could have walked away with from court with her) or to hire an attorney to represent him. He declined to do either … he just didn’t turn up, and didn’t notify the court in any way. With no word from Sonya’s biological father, the court found Sonya abandoned and placed her into the custody of DCS. We’ve covered some of why John might have been too busy to go and get Sonya, but there is probably another reason that we’ll get to below.
To be fair to John -- or at least, fair to the history of events -- John did send his friend Joshua Kidder and a buddy to Tennessee with orders to bring Sonya back just before this hearing. The police though declined to release Sonya to them and told John he’d have to come personally. John was, shall we say, displeased with Kidder’s failure.
John’s bad luck with the courts continued on December 5, 2005 when he was arrested and charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm. It was a state-level charge, and ultimately dismissed once he was indicted in federal court. He was released on $10,000 bond.
About a week later on December 13--while out on bail--John was cited for not having valid license plates on his car. Once again he couldn’t seem to show up for a court date--his own this time. He failed to pay the fine or appear, and had a bench warrant issued for his arrest.
Two weeks later John was pulled over again - this time cited for driving without his license and having no valid registration. As part of his sentence his driver’s license was suspended.
A little less than a month later on January 11, 2006 John was cited once more--again for driving without his license and having no registration, but now also for driving with a suspended license. Once more John couldn’t be bothered to show up for court or respond to a summons, and so once more a bench warrant was issued for his arrest.
Starting to notice a pattern? John seems allergic to showing up for court.
Two weeks later on January 24 he was pulled over and cited for not having proper registration on his car. His license was further suspended.
It was around this time that it seems John must have finally noticed that Sonya was gone. And that Kidder had failed in his mission to bring her back. Because right around this time is when John beat the crap out of Kidder, who then fearing for his own safety also got a protection order issued against John.
John was pulled over again on February 28 for speeding. We’ll come back to this traffic stop in a minute.
Two weeks later John was pulled over again -- I’m starting to sound like a broken record -- this time for having improper lights and driving with a suspended license. John kept up his habit of thumbing his nose at the law, failing to appear and getting arrested again on a bench warrant. He spent two days in jail, but it didn’t seem to matter.
John’s last traffic stop -- for this cycle anyways -- came on April 20, when he was pulled over for failure to stop and, you guessed it, driving with a suspended license. And to make sure he went out with consistency, he once more failed to appear and had a bench warrant issued for his arrest. This turned out to be a really bad day for John -- it was the same day he was indicted by a federal grand jury on two charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
The first charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm stemmed from his arrest on December 5, 2005. But the second charge stemmed from that traffic stop in February. Suffice it to say the police found a lot more interesting things in John’s car when they pulled him over.
Here’s a copy of the police report from that traffic stop. John was pulled over for speeding -- 77 in a 65. But in the course of executing that traffic stop, the police also found a gun in John’s car, along with … meth and drug paraphernalia. Yup - John was apparently using some of the product he was trafficking. Oh, and he was still driving on a suspended license.
Nebraska ultimately indicted John on felony gun possession (for the second time), and possession of meth. Oh, and for kicks - another charge of failure to appear. Because yet again after being released on bail, John couldn’t be bothered to show up for court. They were kind enough to dismiss the charges once John was federally indicted.
As part of his plea deal with the federal government, the prosecution was required to describe what they would have proven had the case gone to trial. Here is the assistant US Attorney, Christian Martinez, telling the court what the government would have proven had John not pled guilty and insisted on going to trial:
MR. MARTINEZ: Your Honor, if this case did proceed to trial, the United States would anticipate proving the following facts: On or about February 28, 2006, Nebraska State Patrol stopped a vehicle that Mr. McCaul was operating for speeding. The officer learned that Mr. McCaul had an outstanding warrant for driving under suspension; and he was still, in fact, on suspended status.
McCaul was asked to exit the vehicle; and while exiting, the officer observed Mr. McCaul attempting to throw a small glass pipe on the ground. McCaul was handcuffed by the officer.
Subsequent search around the immediate grounds around the vehicle the officer did locate a small glass pipe that appeared to have methamphetamine residue. A subsequent search of the vehicle resulted in a .45 caliber handgun being found in the front portion of the passenger seat. That firearm, your Honor, was a Springfield Armory .45 caliber semiautomatic pistol, model 1911-A1, the serial number NM164200. And Mr. McCaul has previous felony convictions for attempted burglary and three counts of robbery, all occurring here in the district county -- excuse me, District Court of Douglas County, Nebraska.
THE COURT: Thank you, Mr. Martinez. Mr. McCaul, do you agree that what you just heard would be the government's evidence against you if you were to go to trial on the charge to which you're pleading guilty?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes.
From looking at these events it’s clear that John’s life had begun to come apart under the weight of his illegal activities and his (probably-heavy) drug use. It explains why he was so desperate to continue driving even after getting his license suspended, multiple times; it explains why he couldn’t be bothered to show up in court--for himself or for his daughter; and it explains why he continued to drive around with a gun after having previously been arrested for the same offense. The weight of John’s responsibilities in trafficking drugs and guns, combined with the fog caused by his use of meth and whatever-else, probably made him unable to focus on or remember anything else. Including Sonya.
Think for a moment about the kind of care Sonya would have been receiving from John at this time, had she not been in Tennessee and in foster care. Far from being a kidnapping, it’s starting to look like Sonya’s guardian angel was watching out for her.
Think for a moment about the kind of care Sonya would have been receiving from John at this time, had she not been in Tennessee and in foster care. Far from being a kidnapping, it’s starting to look like Sonya’s guardian angel was watching out for her.