Michael Peter Fay was sentenced to six strokes of the cane in Singapore in 1994 for theft of road signs and vandalising 18 cars over a ten-day period in September 1993. Fay pleaded guilty, but he later claimed that he was advised that such a plea would preclude caning and that his confession was false. The number of cane strokes in Fay's sentence was ultimately reduced from six to four after United States officials requested leniency.