Kiwi ordered to self-deport back to New Zealand after attacking boy in US for doorbell prank

A Kiwi living in Utah has been convicted of attacking a child after a common prank and has been ordered to self-deport back to New Zealand for four years.

New Zealander Tony Arnold Bernstone, who lives in Salt Lake City, was convicted of a second-degree felony child kidnapping and sentenced to 48 months’ probation and ordered to self-deport.

Bernstone, 56, chased a group of children down the street after they rang his doorbell and ran off, Fox13 Salt Lake City reported. He is said to have caught a 12-year-old boy and slapped him multiple times.

The incident reportedly happened on August 1, 2025. According to a probable cause affidavit, the group of five friends were having a sleepover and decided to ding-dong dash several houses.

Ding-dong dash is a common childhood prank, involving ringing someone’s doorbell and running off before the person answers the door. At around 9.45pm, they did the prank at Bernstone’s address.

According to the affidavit, the man jumped on his bike and chased after the boys, then grabbed one of them, aged 12, by the T-shirt before slapping him.

A witness cited by police said he heard Bernstone saying he was “going to beat the s*** out of them”.

The affidavit also says Bernstone took a photo of himself grabbing the boy by the throat, which he claimed was “to show police”.

The man then took the boy to a nearby store to meet with his father to discuss what happened, local media reported.

It is not clear who called the police following the incident. Bernstone told authorities he has been dealing with neighbourhood kids pulling the prank for years but also admitted this particular group of children were not the ones usually doing it.

The Kiwi man was arrested the following day and charged with felony child kidnapping in the first-degree and misdemeanour child abuse. Earlier this month, he pleaded guilty to a reduced child kidnapping charge, lowered to a second-degree felony. The child abuse charge was dismissed, as part of the plea deal.

This week, he was sentenced to 48 months’ probation and ordered to self-deport to New Zealand within 60 days.

According to local news, doorbell pranks have led to four criminal charges in two years in the state of Utah.

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