{"id":31421,"date":"2026-06-05T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/?p=31421"},"modified":"2026-06-03T13:57:30","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T18:57:30","slug":"fargo-carjacker-gets-80-months-in-federal-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/fargo-carjacker-gets-80-months-in-federal-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Fargo Carjacker Gets 80 Months In Federal Case"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fargo Carjacker Gets 80 Months In Federal Case<\/h2>\n

Fargo<\/strong> (trfnews.i234.me<\/a>) \u2014 A Perham, Minnesota man has been sentenced in federal court after a 12-day crime spree across Minnesota and North Dakota.<\/p>\n

Nathaniel Smith, 30, was sentenced Friday, May 29, to 80 months in federal prison. The sentence equals about six and a half years.<\/p>\n

Smith appeared before Chief Judge Peter Welte after pleading guilty earlier this year. He admitted to eight federal counts tied to vehicle thefts, a carjacking, and interstate transport of stolen vehicles.<\/p>\n

Crime Spree Crossed State Lines<\/h2>\n

Prosecutors said Smith stole several vehicles during the spree. Those vehicles included four pickups, one car, one van, and a semitruck.<\/p>\n

Authorities said Smith moved stolen vehicles between Minnesota and North Dakota. He also fled law enforcement twice during the incidents.<\/p>\n

One of the most serious cases involved a Fargo landscaping crew. Prosecutors said Smith carjacked a work truck and trailer from two Snow & Lawn Dynamics employees while showing a gun.<\/p>\n

\"Nathaniel<\/p>\n

Nathaniel Smith<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Judge Cites Cooperation<\/h2>\n

Federal prosecutors recommended a sentence below the guideline range of 87 to 108 months. They cited Smith\u2019s cooperation after his arrest.<\/p>\n

Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Lee said Smith admitted to stealing at least two vehicles not first linked to him. Defense attorney Jamie Schiable said the 80-month sentence was a joint recommendation.<\/p>\n

Schiable told the court that Smith helped prosecutors build their own case. She said Smith was using methamphetamine and later became remorseful.<\/p>\n

Smith told the court he was dealing with psychosis from meth use. He said he used the drug after his father\u2019s sudden death.<\/p>\n

Smith also spoke about his past conviction in Minnesota. Court records show he was convicted in 2019 of second-degree manslaughter after his infant daughter died.<\/p>\n

Restitution Ordered<\/h2>\n

Judge Welte called Smith\u2019s statement powerful before giving the sentence. He also recommended placement at a low-level federal facility near Perham.<\/p>\n

Smith was ordered to pay nearly $8,000 in special assessments and restitution. Three victims were listed in the case, including Snow & Lawn Dynamics.<\/p>\n

More information about federal court cases is available through the United States Courts<\/a>. Federal inmate information is also available through the Federal Bureau of Prisons<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I’m Chris Harper reporting for TRF News<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nathaniel Smith of Perham was sentenced to 80 months after a Fargo carjacking, vehicle thefts, and an interstate crime spree in federal court.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31689,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_wpscp_schedule_draft_date":"","_wpscp_schedule_republish_date":"","_wpscppro_advance_schedule":false,"_wpscppro_advance_schedule_date":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[12],"tags":[18418,871,772,769,1503,1579,1578],"class_list":["post-31421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","tag-carjacker","tag-case","tag-crime","tag-fargo","tag-federal","tag-gets","tag-months","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31421"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31421\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31690,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31421\/revisions\/31690"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}