SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, April 29, 2026 (Gephardt Daily) — A Salt Lake City man, convicted of kidnapping after he admitted to chasing down, restraining and slapping a boy who rang his doorbell and ran, has been sentenced.
Tony Arnold Bernstone, 59, was given a suspended sentence of 1 to 15 years, but was also ordered to self-deport back to New Zealand and to serve four years of probation.
A charge of child abuse, intentional, a class A misdemeanor, was dismissed with prejudice.
The 12-year-old victim was at a sleepover party nearby when he and a group of others rang Bernstone’s doorbell, then ran. The prank is commonly known as a ding dong ditch.
Bernstone chased the fleeing group on a bicycle, and caught up with the boy. Court documents say Bernstone grabbed the child by the neck, pushed him against a gate, slapped him multiple times and struck him in the stomach with a “gut punch.”
Bernstone later denied punching the boy, but admitted to slapping him.
Bernstone forcibly restrained the boy and told him to call his parents, then he took the child to a nearby gas station to meet the father.
Witnesses heard slaps and the boy saying he was sorry, according to court documents.
Bernstone was arrested on Aug. 2 of last year, the day after the incident. He was convicted, and learned his sentence last week.
