Man sentenced for threatening stranger in car with knife while on drugs
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IDAHO FALLS – A local man was sentenced on Monday after threatening a woman in a car with a knife while high on drugs.
Shaun Jerad Strader, 39, will serve a minimum of three years and a maximum of eight years in prison. District Judge Dane Watkins retained jurisdiction, meaning Strader will complete a rider treatment program.
A rider is where a judge sends a person to prison for up to a year to undergo different treatment programs. Once the program is finished, the judge can decide to send him back to prison or release him on probation.
Strader was originally charged with felony aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and a felony enhancement for use of a deadly weapon in the commission of a felony, which he pleaded not guilty to in Sept. 2022.
Strader accepted a plea agreement on Dec. 5, in which he agreed to plead guilty to felony aggravated assault in exchange for the prosecution agreeing to drop the felony enhancement charge.
During the sentencing, Strader addressed the fact that he was high on methamphetamines during the incident.
“I am disgusted with my behavior right now…I know I need help. I know that drug addiction is absolutely tearing my life apart,” he said.
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According to an Idaho Falls Police report, officers were dispatched to the area of Northwest Bonneville and Kearny on Aug. 19 after Strader was threatening a woman with a knife.
The victim told police she was in her car and a man tried breaking in at knifepoint. She told dispatchers that the man, who was later identified as Strader, was walking west across the canal bridge.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, the suspect had jumped into the canal and was on the east bank of the canal, hiding in the weeds. He was eventually taken into custody and transported to the Bonneville County Jail.