Man who made death threats to get help

A Carbon County man with a history of making death threats against judges and lawyers should be released from jail to a facility where he can receive mental health treatment as soon as possible, a senior judge ruled on Thursday.

John Robert Large is currently awaiting parole at Carbon County Correctional Facility. Earlier this year he received time-served sentences for several cases involving death threats he made in 2015 and 2016.

“It is obvious that he is in need of mental health intervention and therapy. It is the sincere hope of this court that the placement will be pursued with diligence,” said Senior Judge Dudley N. Anderson of Lycoming County.

In February, Large pleaded guilty in the last of six cases from 2015 and 2016 involving numerous threats to people in Carbon, Northampton and Luzerne counties. He admitted to making death threats and bomb threats by phone, and in two cases threatening his victims by leaving dead animals with threatening notes. His victims included lawyers, a nursing agency, his ex-wife and a Northampton County judge.

In each case, Large was given credit for time-served in prison. However he has remained incarcerated since his last sentencing in February because of probation violations from cases dating to 2012 and 2014.

During Thursday’s hearing, Anderson ruled those crimes were indeed probation violations. Anderson said that instead of adding jail time or probation, he wanted to see Large receive inpatient mental health treatment.

“What I’m looking to do is help you out,” Anderson said. “I’m looking for a solution that’s going to benefit you, and still protect society.”

Large pleaded with Anderson to send him to a hospital instead of returning him to Carbon County Correctional Facility to await parole. Following the hearing, Large refused to leave with a sheriff’s deputy. Four deputies carried him from the courthouse to a police cruiser waiting outside because he refused to walk.

Large’s crimes have included calling a Northampton County judge at 1 a.m. in the days before Christmas 2015, and telling him he would ruin the holidays for him like the judge did for him. In October 2015, he left dead animals outside a Lehigh County nursing agency which had once provided care for his daughter. In June 2016, he threatened lawyers in Carbon and Luzerne County and his ex-wife’s family.

Large’s criminal history goes back to more than a decade. Carbon County’s three judges have recused themselves from his cases ever since he stalked the now-deceased Judge David Addy in 2007. Senior judges from around the state, including Anderson, have presided over his recent cases in the county.

Large showed frustration from the outset of the hearing. He refused to acknowledge the probation violations because he wanted to dispute cases where he had already pleaded guilty.

He said that during some of his guilty pleas and sentencing hearings earlier this year, he was suffering from a facial fracture and a concussion. He said the judges refused to continue his hearings, and his public defenders refused to raise it as a defense.

He also disputed the report which the court used to find him guilty but mentally ill.

Large said that he suffers from chronic traumatic encephalopathy resulting from a traumatic brain injury, not mental health issues.

Anderson said he could raise those issues in other courts, but it was not the purpose of the hearing.

“You are not going to retry the criminal activity that was charged. That’s not for this court. The only thing they have to show is that the charges were brought,” Anderson said.

Large questioned why he has remained in jail after finishing his time-served sentence. When a different senior judge sentenced Large in Northampton County court, he said Large could be released to live with his mother if there was no bed available at the Nazareth facility. Large said he has repeatedly asked Carbon Monroe Pike MHDS and the county’s office of adult probation why he has not been released in accordance with the judge’s orders.

“I’m trying to understand how these failed negotiations have resulted in me being in handcuffs and not released to my mother’s home,” he said.

Anderson said it is possible that Large has remained in jail because he has refused to acknowledge the probation violations.

Large said he could not acknowledge the violations in court because his physical and mental state have been poor since late August. He said around that time he received another concussion and the jail stopped giving him his prescribed psychiatric medicine.

Anderson said that the prosecutor and adult probation office had proved the violations occurred, even if Large refused to acknowledge them.

Large will remain on probation for more than a decade following his release.

John Large’s history of crimes

• Summer 2007 - Large is charged with stalking Judge David Addy, after shouting at his home, waiting outside his chambers and sitting in his courtroom while he hears cases.

• August 2008 - Large pleads guilty to stalking Judge David Addy. After receiving credit for time served, he is paroled and admitted to a facility for brain injuries.

• June 14, 2014 - Large slashes tires and punctures radiators on cars belonging to a woman who works at a nursing home where his daughter lives. Left a duct taped box with the words “tic toc” - left threatening handwritten notes on the car. Serves 180 days in jail.

• October 2015 - Large threatens staff at a Lehigh County nursing agency and left dead rats in traps, a dead fish in a newspaper and threatening notes.

• Oct. 31, 2015 - Large calls a nursing home administrator living in Northampton County and threatens to kill her.

• Dec. 21, 2015 - Large makes threats during a 1 a.m. phone call to the home of Northampton County Judge Emil Giordano.

• June 12, 2016 - Large threatens his ex-wife and her parents and leaves a dead snake and crow on her property.

• June 13, 2016 - Large calls state police and tells them that he is planning something that would make the Orlando shooting look small. He calls in bomb threat at the home of a Carbon County lawyer who once represented Large’s ex-wife.

• June 14, 2016 - Large threatens to burn down a Luzerne county lawyer’s home, cut off his head, rip out his heart and stuff it down his throat.

• June 16, 2016 - Large is arrested in Vermont.

• July 2017 - Large is returned to Pennsylvania to face charges.

• Late 2017-Early 2018 - Police file charges for the six cases involving threats between October 2015-June 2016.

• May 2018 - Large pleads guilty but mentally ill for placing dead animals outside a Lehigh County nursing agency. He receives 60 months probation.

• Sept. 26, 2018 - Large pleads guilty but mentally ill in two cases in Carbon County involving bomb threats, and leaving a dead crow and a dead snake outside his ex-wife’s property.

• February 2019 - Senior judge Thomas Gavin sentences Large to seven years probation for phone threats to Judge Emil Giordano and a nursing home administrator. Giordano asks the court to send him to state prison.

• Jan. 29: Anderson sentences Large to 10-20 months in prison for his threats in Carbon County, and gives credit for 560 days in prison.

• March 15: Large receives 24 months probation in Luzerne County Court after pleading guilty but mentally ill to threats against his former attorney.

— Compiled by Chris Reber