A Rochester woman was sentenced to five years of supervised probation Monday after accepting a plea agreement involving charges that she threatened to "put a bullet in the head" of a man, then burn down a pair of houses.
Katherine Marie Laack, 35, pleaded guilty to one count of terroristic threats in December in exchange for the dismissal of one count of second-degree assault, false imprisonment and one count of gross misdemeanor domestic assault.
On Monday, Olmsted County District Judge Pamela King sentenced Laack to five years of supervised probation and 104 days in the Olmsted County jail, which she'd already served.
According to the criminal complaint, the investigation began Oct. 15, when police responded to northeast Rochester for a report of terroristic threats. A man said that he and a woman were filling out paperwork for a harassment restraining order against Laack when she came to the residence.
Laack flipped the dinner table over, the complaint says, told the man she was going to put a bullet in his head, then retrieved a butane torch from the basement. Laack allegedly made threats about burning down the man's house, as well as the woman's house, then began burning some plastic netting that hung around the staircase.
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When the woman tried to leave, Laack "jumped at her" with the torch, court documents say, and twice kicked the door shut, backed the woman against the door and told her she wanted to kill her.
Laack reportedly said, "once I burn (the man's) house down, yours is next." The woman again tried to leave, but Laack kicked the door shut and locked the deadbolt, the complaint says. The woman was finally able to get out; the man had escaped moments before and called police.
Laack was arrested at the scene.
