John Edward McGinnis, Assault with Dangerous Weapon, Washington 2021

SPokane, WA – John Edward McGinnis, 35, of Nespelem, Washington, was sentenced to 22 years in federal prison for Assault with Dangerous Weapon in Indian Country, Arson in Indian Country, Felon in Possession of a Firearm and Ammunition, and Discharging and Using a Firearm During and in Relation to a Crime of Violence.

According to court documents, McGinnis kidnapped four people at gunpoint in early June 2020. During the ordeal, which lasted several hours beginning on the evening of June 1 and continuing into the morning hours of June 2, 2020, McGinnis held his victims at gunpoint and even fired several gunshots in the immediate area of these victims.

At the time of these offenses, three of the victims were minor children – ages 9, 13, and 17. After holding three of his victims at gunpoint inside their home on the Colville Indian Reservation, Defendant forced these victims into a truck, which McGinnis later stole. McGinnis then forced the victims to drive to McGinnis’s trailer, which McGinnis lit on fire, causing the trailer to burn to the ground.

At one point during the ordeal, three of the victims were able to escape. McGinnis, however, was not finished. He found another victim in the Grand Coulee area – robbing her at gunpoint and forcing her into the stolen truck. After he kidnapped this victim, McGinnis sexually assaulted her and threatened to kill her if she tried to escape.

Ultimately, this fourth victim did manage to escape at a gas station in Spokane, Washington by causing McGinnis to believe she was going inside to pay for gas. Instead, the victim told the gas station attendant to call 911 and then locked herself inside the bathroom in fear McGinnis would come after her.

Shortly after this fourth victim escaped, Spokane Police saw the stolen truck near Second Avenue in Spokane, Washington. When officers tried to stop the truck, McGinnis led police on a high-speed chase that ended near Liberty Park, where McGinnis attempted to drive the truck off-road, and the truck became high centered. McGinnis was then taken into custody. Inside the stolen truck, police recovered a .22 caliber revolver, which McGinnis was not able to lawfully possess because of his prior convictions for second-degree burglary and assault with a dangerous weapon.

McGinnis had entered a guilty plea on May 21, 2021. At today’s sentencing, United States Senior District Judge Rosanna Malouf Peterson ordered McGinnis to serve a total of 264 months in federal prison to be followed by a five-year term of supervised release. In this regard, McGinnis was sentenced to 240 months on the charges set forth above and to an additional 24 months for violating his federal supervised release. These sentences were ordered to run consecutively for a total of 264 months. McGinnis also was ordered to pay $9,919.03 in restitution.

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