Utah 'Mountain Man' set to take plea deals

He eluded police for more than six years, ransacking cabins across a wide swath of Utah as he trekked hundreds of miles alone on his snowshoes with a rifle slung over his shoulder. After authorities caught him last year, he continued his solitary ways in court as he fired his defense attorney and defiantly told a judge he would represent himself against a host of state and federal burglary and theft charges. But on Monday in a courtroom in St. George, Troy James Knapp, known by many as the "Mountain Man," is set to finally face justice by agreeing to a package of plea deals that will bring an end his court case, and start the clock on a prison sentence expected to be at least 10 years. Knapp, 46, will go first before a federal judge who must approve parameters of a deal Knapp agreed to in April on federal weapons charges that stem from him firing shots at agents during his capture in April 2013. From there, Knapp will go before a state judge where he's schedule to take plea deals from seven Utah counties, said Sanpete County Attorney Brody Keisel. Details of the plea deals are not being disclosed, but he's charged with more than 40 burglary-related crimes dating back to 2009...more