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Report: Man wanted a "pretty explicit display of hatred"

Posted at 5:10 PM, Jul 20, 2016
and last updated 2016-07-20 19:10:54-04

A Pocatello man was sentenced Wednesday for interstate communication of a threat of bodily injury, according U.S. Attorney Wendy Olson. She said John Kent Davis, 66, hired a person over the phone to beat his ex-wife. What Kent didn’t know was that the person on the other end was actually an FBI undercover agent.

Senior U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge sentenced Kent to thirty months in prison, three years supervised release, and a $5,000 fine. He was also ordered to forfeit $2,500 in cash proceeds. 

Davis pleaded guilty to the crime on May 13.

According to court documents, on July 29 of last year, Davis placed a phone call from Idaho to Utah “for the purpose of soliciting the physical beating of the victim.”  During the call, Davis unknowingly spoke with an undercover Federal Bureau of Investigation special agent. 

Reports say Davis asked the undercover agent to badly beat the victim in a way that was “short of permanent” and a “pretty explicit display of hatred.” Davis also told the agent he wanted photographs to prove the victim had been beaten.

Davis then paid the undercover agent $2,500 to beat the victim.