Buster

Degenerate Phone Prankster Receives Severe Dose Of Texas Justice

In what should serve as a warning to telephone terrorists everywhere, a former Pranknet member has been sentenced to five years in prison for a hoax call that resulted in significant damage to a McDonald’s in Texas.

James Tyler Markle, 20, received the stiff sentence Tuesday during a sentencing hearing before Judge Barry Bryan in Angelina County District Court, according to a court judgment. Markle will soon be transported from the county jail to the Texas State Penitentiary at Huntsville, the state’s oldest lockup and home to its death chamber.

Markle, whose Pranknet handiwork was first described in these pages, pleaded guilty to placing a call last June that resulted in about $5000 in damages to a McDonald’s in Lufkin (that hoax is detailed here). As a teary Markle was led from the courthouse in handcuffs, his aunt told a TV reporter that he was a “very nice, respectful young man," adding that she had “never known him to be in trouble before.”

She apparently forgot the small matter of her nephew raping a five-year-old girl in the bathroom of a Baptist church. He spent about 30 months in a youth detention facility for that felony conviction. Markle is pictured in the above mug shot.

Earlier this year, Markle--who used the online moniker "Prankster"--was sentenced to three years probation after he pleaded guilty to two felonies stemming from a phone prank targeting an Arby’s restaurant in Louisiana. He also remains the target of a Kentucky police probe examining a repulsive prank at a Lexington hotel that ended with a front desk clerk drinking the urine of a hotel guest.

On the bright side, Markle’s stay in Huntsville could be significantly shortened if he is granted admission into a “shock probation” program. That decision, Judge Bryan noted, will be made in three to four months.

Comments (19)

I almost forgot to mention...I'm surprised this "Animal" is still alive - after raping a 5 yr. kid!!! They should have strung him up by his cajones - somewhere in a very remote area of that desert!!! I reckon "Big Bubba" is gonna turn him in to one of those *Faireys* now - It don't take long for the word to get around in the slammer!!!!
Hopefully he'll get shanked to death before his 5 years are up. I still don't understand how this scumbag only got 30 months for raping a kid, 30 YEARS isn't nearly long enough in my book.
5 years for a prank call - 2 1/2 years for raping a child. That's what's wrong with the 'Justice' system.
Actually the 5 years is probably because of the previous "activities" of this low life.
@Suspect on Thu, 2010-12-02 16:22....You need to pass this idea about the "Iron Cage" in the desert, on to Sheriff Joe Arpaio in Arizona - He's the toughest sheriff in America....But, I bet as soon as Obummer and his A$$WIPES heard about it - why they would "Sue" the State again for sure....Can't be discriminating against those '***s' now - can we??? I'd like to put Obummer in one of those cages - when it's 125* in the desert!!!
Being a native Texan I think the Texas legal system went to hell when the state quit executing rapists.
Bubba's got a 10-inch "prank" just waitin' for Mr. Merkle.
Yeah, but how do you get a hotel clerk to drink a guest's urine and how do you get the guest to give the hotel clerk his/her urine?
He convinced the guest that he'd been exposed to hepatitis c from the previous guest. He told him to bring a urine sample to the front desk. Then he called the front desk, said he was from an apple cider company and that a man would be coming down to give her a sample of a new drink to taste test. He stayed on the phone and when she said, "Here he he comes" he told her to take it from the guy. Somehow, the man actually left without saying anything. As soon as she tried it, he told her she'd just drunk urine. I was really interested in how the hell you could get a person to drink urine but now all I can think about is that woman. She will never live that down or forget it. Sadistic scumbags.
At first I wondered why we were giving a guy 5 years for a "prank". But in reading the reference, the only problem is these are not pranks. These are felonies and need to be treated as such, I wonder if he will try any "pranks" on his fellow inmates. I suspect not.