A northern Minnesota man was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison for assaulting and kidnapping his estranged wife, robbing a bank and fleeing to Mexico.

Timothy Glen Caskey, 43, pleaded guilty to the kidnapping and bank robbery last year and was sentenced Friday before U.S. District Judge John Tunheim in Duluth.

According to court documents:

Caskey grabbed his wife off a street in Virginia, Minn., on July 14, 2011, as she walked with her 9-year-old son and three friends. After forcing his wife into his car, he attacked the 9-year-old and another person. Caskey attacked his wife repeatedly with the handle of a screwdriver and later sexually assaulted her.

Fleeing across the country, Caskey robbed a Kansas bank and later stole a pickup truck from a Texas used-car dealership. He then drove across the border to Mexico, where he continued to physically and sexually assault his wife.

Caskey withheld food and water from his wife and threatened to kill her if she tried to escape. He was arrested in Mexico last August.

Authorities had suspected Caskey would flee to Mexico because he was picked up in Ixtapa by American authorities during a previous run-in with the law.

Caskey had a long history of domestic violence. Hours before kidnapping his wife, Caskey was released from a regional jail near Duluth, where he had been held after violating an order for protection that his wife had obtained.

Mary Lynn Smith