A New Albany man has been charged in federal court for allegedly sending more than 60 threatening letters and emails to 34 victims, including politicians, a local TV station, and law enforcement agencies, the U.S Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio reports.
The man, a 39-year-old, has been charged with making interstate communications with a threat to kidnap or injure, mailing threatening communications, false information and hoaxes and cyberstalking. He appeared in federal court in Columbus on May 9.
Prosecutors say that the man sent threatening letters that contained white powder to his victims, and in one instance, he mailed a letter containing a 9 mm bullet with the name of a public official etched into it, prosecutors said. The news release does not say who the victims were.
Prosecutors said the suspect sent at least 49 letters that contained suspicious white powder, which at times the suspect claimed to be Ricin, a poison found in castor beans. According to prosecutors, 29 victims received letters containing the white powder.
Prosecutors allege that between July and early August 2024, the man sent a dozen threatening letters in the mail to five different mailing addresses for public officials. The return label on the letters contained mailing information for people who were either currently employed or previously employed by the targeted public official, prosecutors said.
The man threatened violence in the letters, which included threats such as “I will kill you for your ignorant loyalty to your pedophilic party” and “I will kill you for the good of The People. Your death will come when you least expect it.”
The week before his arrest, the man allegedly sent letters to more victims containing a “hitlist” of eight people he said he would kill during the month of May. The man also sent threatening emails to public officials stating: “Each [victim] will receive the gift of their names etched onto a single bullet. Their skull is the target the bullet is the gift,” prosecutors said.
On May 8, the man reportedly told FBI agents that he had sent the letters with the goal to incite fear, including the fear of bodily injury, and to make threats with the goal of changing behavior.
“Targeting public officials with threatening messages and substances is a serious federal crime that won’t go unpunished,” FBI Cincinnati Special Agent in Charge Elena Iatarola said in a prepared statement announcing the arrest.
Mailing threatening communications carries a potential penalty of up to 10 years in prison, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio. Making interstate communications with a threat to kidnap or injure, mailing threatening communications, conveying false information and hoaxes, and cyberstalking are all federal crimes punishable by up to five years in prison.
Reporter Shahid Meighan can be reached at smeighan@dispatch.com, at ShahidMeighan on X, and at shahidthereporter.dispatch.com on Bluesky.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: New Albany man accused of sending threatening letters to Ohio politicians, TV station
Reporting by Shahid Meighan, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
