Dad sentenced to 3 years for threats to kill detective in son's child rape case (West Palm Beach, Florida)

What a charming son. What a charming father. Apple didn't fall far from the paternal tree here, did it? The "tree" being RANDALL WILLIAM SACHS.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/suburban-lake-worth-dad-sentenced-to-3-years-1880006.html

Suburban Lake Worth dad sentenced to 3 years for threats to kill detective in his son's case

By Daphne Duret
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Updated: 12:50 p.m. Monday, Sept. 26, 2011

Posted: 12:20 p.m. Monday, Sept. 26, 2011

WEST PALM BEACH — A suburban Lake Worth father was sentenced to three years in prison this morning for threatening to kill a Palm Beach County Sheriff's detective who arrested his son on child sexual battery charges.

Randall William Sachs, 61, was arrested in December by detectives from the sheriff's office Violent Crimes Division for extortion, witness tampering, aggravated stalking, corruption by threats and written threats to kill the female detective.

Prosecutors said Sachs began threatening the detective and her family after his son, Caleb Sachs, of Greenacres, was charged with capital sexual battery charges on accusations that he raped two girls, ages 6 and 7. Caleb Sachs in May was sentenced to five years in prison on molestation charges.

According to arrest reports, Randall Sachs made threats over the telephone against both the detective and her father, saying that he would kill the detective and make her death look like a car accident. He also made written threats and said he would "blow her head off."

Detectives were able to match the handwriting and voice to Sachs through handwriting analysis and electronic monitoring devices.

Though Sachs' case carried a minimum five-year sentence and a maximum 25-year sentence under sentencing guidelines, Sach's attorney Adam Farkas asked Circuit Judge Joseph Marx to give him a lower sentence, saying the father's anxiety over having his son potentially spend life in prison drove him to extremes.

"He thought he was losing his son to an allegation that was false, and he felt helpless," Farkas said, later adding that when detectives confronted Sachs regarding the threats he "made the fullest confession I think I've ever seen."

The detective, who prosecutors did not identify in court Monday, declined to attend the sentencing, saying she and Sachs had never seen one another face-to-face and she didn't want him to know what she looked like.

Marx said that he didn't believe Sachs, who has been in jail for nearly a year, deserved a long prison sentence. The judge initially ordered psychological tests for Sachs, saying his actions "went beyond threatening to the point of being ridiculous" and he appeared ill during his initial appearances in court.

"It almost seemed, for lack of a better word, that he was just crazy," Marx said.