PRESS RELEASE
Friday, July 7, 2023
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – A Truesdale, Mo., man has been sentenced in federal court for stealing a woman’s car at knifepoint in Springfield, Mo.
Michael Brian Free, 50, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Brian C. Wimes on Thursday, July 6, to seven years in federal prison without parole.
On Feb. 9, 2023, Free pleaded guilty to one count of taking a motor vehicle by force, violence, and intimidation, with the intent to cause death and serious bodily harm.
Free admitted that he pointed a knife at a woman who was getting gas at a Springfield convenience store on April 30, 2022. After she had paid for her gas and stepped back out to her 2011 Chevy Impala next to the fuel pumps, Free approached her, pulled out a knife and demanded her car keys. Free threatened to stab her in the neck if she didn’t give him the keys to her car. She gave him the keys then fled into the store and called the police.
Video footage from the store captured Free making a purchase inside the store. Investigators were able to use the store’s financial records to help identify Free.
Free was driving the stolen vehicle when he was arrested in the Des Moines, Iowa, area in May 2022.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Carney. It was investigated by the Springfield, Mo., Police Department and the FBI.
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