Posted on 05/25/2002 6:44:35 PM PDT by Temple Owl
Friday, May 24, 2002
Judge rules man insane in street sweeper theft -
By Marie McCain, The Cincinnati Enquirer
Damon J. Francis believed he had the power to control the weather and predict the future.
He believed this, he said, because when he told people it would snow, it snowed.
He told people George W. Bush would become president. He did.
Mr. Francis, of North College Hill, also told people he was the Abominable Snowman and that his Cadillac was from the devil.
A Hamilton County judge found the 24-year-old North College Hill man not guilty by reason of insanity Thursday in connection with an incident last year where he was caught trying to enter Canada while driving a stolen street sweeper.
Mr. Francis, who was diagnosed with multiple mental disorders including depression, delusions and schizophrenia, was accused of stealing the large truck a year ago from Lockland-based Contract Sweepers & Equipment.
He told mental health examiners he was hoping to live in the woods in Alaska because the Bible says a prophet gets no honor in his hometown. The cold wouldn't bother him, he told them, because he was the Abominable Snowman.
Appearing before Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Thomas Crush, Mr. Francis faced charges of vehicle theft, theft, breaking and entering and vandalism.
On May 6, 2001, Mr. Francis, investigators said, drove his white Cadillac into an 8-foot fence surrounding the Lockland company's parking lot, obtained keys and two fuel cards and drove away with the sweeper.
He told mental health officials God chose that particular truck for him because its lights were on. He said he couldn't travel to Alaska — where he would save the world — in the Cadillac because it had been given to him by the devil.
Officials described the sweeper as a "truck-sized" vehicle that could travel up to 65 mph.
Mr. Francis was arrested last May by Marquette County, Mich., sheriff's deputies as he tried to cross the border.
Federal officials in Michigan intended to try Mr. Francis because he crossed state lines. They stopped prosecution, however, after he was declared "delusional" in court following an evaluation.
Hamilton County sheriff's deputies brought him back in March. He could have faced five years in prison if convicted but will be housed in a mental health facility instead.
Mr. Francis will return to court June 3 for another hearing.
Wow! The guy must have really been crazy...the only "border" between Marquette County and Canada is Lake Superior.
They must have meant Mackinac County. Sault Ste Marie has a border crossing there.
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