Michigan man gets life in prison for sexually assaulting 14-year-old Lubbock girl
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) — A Michigan man convicted of stalking and sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl from Lubbock was sentenced to life in prison last week by a federal judge.
In June, Thomas John Boukamp, 22, was found guilty on 16 counts that included transporting a minor to engage in criminal sexual conduct, enticing a minor, producing and distributing child pornography, and cyber stalking.
On Oct. 20, U.S. District Judge James Wesley Hendrix decided Boukamp would spend the rest of his life in federal prison.
According to court documents, Boukamp met the girl – whose name was withheld due to her age and the nature of the crime – on an instant messaging platform when she was only 13 years old.
Boukamp and the girl exchanged messages, including some in which Boukamp threatened to hurt her family if she told anyone about their relationship.
Later on, Boukamp took the girl – who by this time had turned 14 – to his home in Michigan. There, he sexually assaulted her and began brutally attacking her, ripping her braces off using pliers, strangling her, and hitting her.
The girl's father testified in court that when she ran away to Michigan, she took her baby blanket with her. She also bravely testified at the trial, describing Boukamp's abuse.
Even after his arrest, Boukamp was apparently unrepentant about his crimes.
During the sentencing hearing, prosecutors played a recorded jailhouse phone call in which Boukamp insisted he would not apologize for "quote unquote 'raping a 14-year-old.'"
"I like teenage girls! They don't like that I like that," he said of federal agents and prosecutors. "I frankly don't care what the morality of this current time and place says. It's not wrong. There's nothing wrong about it. And they're not going to ever convince me of its wrongness. So up theirs. I hate this nation."
When he was reminded that his calls from jail were being monitored, Boukamp threatened, "if you're listening to this, yeah, your family is going to die."
"Play this at my [expletive] sentencing! Do it! I hate you!" he continued before insulting the judge and two prosecutors.
Boukamp also wrote a letter to a family member, blaming the victim for her "betrayal" and asking for help escaping prison.
In a statement to the court, the victim's father described how his daughter was traumatized by Boukamp:
"Her childhood was ended too soon. He took that from her," he said. "She struggles with her self-esteem. I don't know if she'll ever be able to truly love herself again… We hope that she can be okay. We hope that she can make it through this. We know that she will never be the same. We know that she will never get her innocence back."
After Boukamp was handed his life sentence, U.S. Attorney Chad Meacham said, "This man stalked and sexually assaulted a 14-year-old, then had the gall to claim in federal court that their so-called 'relationship' was consensual. The child, who bravely faced her abuser in court, asserted in no uncertain terms that his advances were unwelcome."
"By law, 14-year-olds simply cannot consent to sexual contact with adults. We are immensely proud of this child and hope this sentence brings some solace to her and her family."