This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
West Jordan • The young Herriman man who let loose a can of pepper spray in a Riverton Wal-Mart in September didn't mean for anyone to get hurt. He was just fooling around, he said.
But as a result of the prank, the store shut down, dozens of people poured into a makeshift triage set up in the parking lot, nearly 80 customers and employees were injured, and two were hospitalized.
Jordan Ryan Crane, 20, was sentenced Thursday to serve five years of probation, repay damage incurred by Wal-Mart and those who were hospitalized as a result of the incident and stay out of all Wal-Mart stores for the next five years.
At the time of sentencing, the amount of restitution owed stood at about $147,000 — an amount that defense attorneys said would take Crane nearly 16 years to repay.
Crane could have been sent to jail for up to one year for each misdemeanor count to which he pleaded guilty: recklessly causing a catastrophe, obstruction of justice and surreptitiously administering pepper spray.
But 3rd District Judge Terry Christiansen said he believed Crane did not act with malicious intent, and felt the six days Crane spent in jail following his arrest was punishment enough.
According to charging documents, Crane entered the Wal-Mart at 3502 S. Hamilton View on Sept. 15 with his girlfriend, Madison Valorie Durrant, 20.
At some point, Crane removed a canister containing Durrant's "jogger spray" from her purse and wandered the store spraying it at random, the documents state. Authorities said video surveillance showed that Crane kept the canister down by his side and sprayed it behind him as he looked around.
It was not clear what inspired these shenanigans. When asked Thursday what he was thinking on that September day, Crane shrugged.
"I was just being childish, I guess," he said. "I wasn't using my head."
Eventually, police said, Durrant took the canister from Crane and put it back into her purse. When the two drove away in Durrant's vehicle, Durrant told Crane to throw the canister out the window along the Bacchus Highway, the documents state.
Durrant, who attended Crane's sentencing Thursday, pleaded guilty in January to third-degree felony obstruction of justice for her part in the pepper-spray incident, but she is working to have the charge dismissed by completing 100 hours of community service and repaying costs to the court.
After Thursday's hearing, Crane expressed gratitude toward the court and remorse for his actions.
"I never meant to hurt those people," he said. "I feel terrible. Really terrible."
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