EVERETT — Nathan Lee Lafromboise will have to wait a little longer to be with the love of his life — the woman he once bailed out of jail with proceeds from selling a Kubota lawn tractor he stole from a Methodist church.
Lafromboise was sentenced Wednesday to five years in prison for a slew of crimes, including a February robbery.
He once told detectives he only went along with the heist to keep his lady safe. She also participated in the hold-up.
Not shy about confessing his love, Lafromboise also told the Snohomish cops investigating the break-in at the church that he would do anything for his now-wife.
Lafromboise, 31, recently wed the woman during a jailhouse ceremony.
She too is expected to be headed to prison for her part in the Feb. 4 robbery.
Lafromboise, his then-future wife and two other women were accused of hatching a plan to lure a man out of a bar and rob him for drug money.
The women agreed to find a man who looked like he had money and bring him back to their car, prosecutors alleged. That’s where Lafromboise would roll him. The group planned to drive the man to the mountains, strip him of his clothes and leave him to find his way out of the woods, court papers said.
The women found their target at the Player’s Club in Everett. The suspects held a gun and a knife on the man. He was able to jump out of the car when it came to a stop.
Police said they identified one of the women through video surveillance at a nearby gas station. She allegedly confessed to the robbery and gave up the other three suspects, court papers said.
Everett detectives caught up with Lafromboise a few weeks later at a bail bonds company. That’s where Lafromboise arranged to meet a couple who saw an online advertisement for a cheap lawn mower. The couple told police they gave Lafromboise $400 and gave another $100 to the bail bondsman.
The lawn mower turned out to be stolen from a Methodist church in Snohomish.
Lafromboise initially blamed another suspect and her boyfriend for the robbery. He said “he was just there out of concern for (his girlfriend). He explained he would never have put her in that kind of jeopardy,” Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Mara Rozzano wrote in court papers.
Lafromboise was contrite on Wednesday.
His crime spree was out of character for him, he said.
He told the judge he’d been taking classes in jail. He’d like to go to college, he said.
After all, he’s got a wife to think of now.
Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463; hefley@heraldnet.com.
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