Robert E. Bartels, Threatening a Judge and a Police Officer, Missouri 2022

⏱ 3 min read

A Missouri man’s twisted plan to take out a federal judge and a law enforcement officer in Arkansas has landed him 25 years behind bars. Michael Buck, 53, was sentenced yesterday by Chief US District Judge Kristine G. Baker after making violent threats against the judge and officer while an inmate in the Federal Correctional Institution in Forrest City.

According to investigators, Buck used a contraband prison phone to locate his targets and even made a surreptitious recording of himself making threats against the judge who sentenced him in a 2008 commercial sex trafficking case. He also threatened the former prosecutor who handled his case and their family members.

As a convicted felon with a history of violent crimes, Buck’s sentence comes as no surprise. The FBI investigated the threats in March 2025, and Buck pleaded guilty to five counts in the Second Superseding Indictment just a month later.

Chief Judge Baker also added three years of supervised release to Buck’s sentence, but there’s no parole in the federal system. Buck’s 300-month sentence is a stern reminder that threatening federal officials will not be taken lightly.

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