Lester Dale Lee, Mailing Threatening Communications, California 2023

Oakland Man Charged with Mailing Threatening Communications to East Bay Elementary School

In a shocking case of intimidation and hate, Lester Dale Lee, 69, of Oakland, California, has been charged with mailing threatening communications to Dayton Elementary School in San Leandro. Lee, a former substitute teacher, allegedly sent three threatening letters to the school in May 2023.

According to the criminal complaint, Lee mailed threatening letters to Dayton Elementary School on three occasions in May 2023. The letters were sent in similar envelopes bearing the same typewritten address label. On May 3, 2023, the school received a letter addressed to one of its teachers. In the letter, Lee, posing as the parent of a student in the teacher’s classroom, allegedly used a racial slur to describe some students and threatened to shoot the students and teacher if the school did not remove the African American students from the class.

On May 18, 2023, the school received a second mailing that was addressed to the principal and contained an unidentified white powder. On May 19, 2023, the school received a third letter that addressed to the same teacher as the May 3 mailing. Lee again allegedly posed as the parent of a student in the class, used a racial slur to refer to students in the class, and threatened to shoot the African American students and the teachers if they were not removed from the school because he wanted ‘them all dead.’

Lee had worked as a substitute teacher at numerous school sites within the San Lorenzo Unified School District during the 2022 to 2023 school year, including at Dayton Elementary School. According to the complaint, Lee was terminated from his substitute teaching position in April 2023, following reports of conflicts between Lee and students at the elementary school.

Lee is next scheduled to appear in federal court on March 28, 2025, for a status hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Kandis A. Westmore.

The charges against Lee include violating 18 U.S.C. § 876(c) and 18 U.S.C. § 1038(a)(1)(A), which carry a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $100 fine for each violation.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Evan Mateer is prosecuting the case with the assistance of Amala James. The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the FBI, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the San Leandro Police Department.

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