Officials: Calif. man threatened to ‘kill every judge’ in Monroe
A California man was charged with threatening by Facebook messages to bomb the courthouse on three occasions.
Ryan John Smith, 23, of Hemet, California, has been charged in connection with threats he made on Facebook directed at the Monroe County Courthouse and county employees.
Smith, formerly of Tannersville, was apprehended by deputies from the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department in California at the request of detectives from the Monroe County District Attorney’s Criminal Investigations Division.
In June, Smith had sent a message via Facebook Messenger to the official Facebook page of the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office threatening to bomb the county courthouse.
When detectives interviewed Smith, he admitted to sending the message in a fit of drunken anger, which he said stemmed from an existing summary warrant for a shoplifting offense in East Stroudsburg. Smith was seemingly remorseful and understanding of the potential consequences of making such threats, and the Office of the District Attorney decided not to extradite Smith from California and prosecute him for that threat.
However, on Dec. 22, Smith sent a second threatening message on Facebook, stating that he was going to bomb the courthouse. Detectives subsequently charged Smith for both bomb threats and obtained a warrant for Smith’s arrest.
Monroe County Detectives, working in conjunction with police in California, attempted to locate and arrest Smith but were initially unsuccessful.
As a result, Smith learned of the existence of the warrant, and sent a third message to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office on Jan. 2, threatening to “kill every judge and person who works in that Court House,” claiming that the police would never catch him.
Investigators were eventually able track Smith to a location in Menifee, California, where he was taken into custody by deputies from the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department on Saturday.
Smith is facing charges of threats to use weapons of mass destruction, terroristic threats, and harassment. Additional charges are pending for the Jan. 2 threats.
Smith is currently incarcerated in California pending his extradition to Pennsylvania.
Comments
Iran offers $80 million bouty on the POTUS, “comedian” George Lopez volunteered to assassinate Trump for half... nothing happened to him?
Kathy Griffin holds mock-up of Trump's decapitated head in front of all the world, she just looses job with CNN?
I don't condone these acts, and certainly not siding with this confused Californian, but am I the only one seeing double standards?
As of the end of October 2018 Trump's life was threatened 184 times on Twitter.
That's OK?
These are Democrat Judges? A two tier justice system?
Pray for America, we are going down in flames.
Comparing judges to US President? Both a life.
If you have a complaint that Madonna wasn’t arrested, write a letter to the trump justice department. To suggest this is a conspiracy is a little wild.
300,000,000 guns not yet confiscated!
The fight will start, as it had in the past, in Virginia.
Thank You Dr. Northam