A federal judge has handed down a harsh sentence to an incarcerated man in St. Louis, Illinois, after he admitted to sending death threats to a judge and former probation officer, as well as threatening to blow up the Thomas F. Eagleton U.S. Courthouse.
Richard L. Russell, 58, pleaded guilty to two counts of retaliating against a federal official, two counts of mailing threatening communications and one count of threatening to destroy a building by fire or explosion.
In a disturbing display of retaliation, Russell sent handwritten letters containing death threats to a sitting federal judge and retired probation officer who had previously worked on his court cases.
The letters, which were signed by Russell, were mailed from the Grady County Criminal Justice Authority, a BOP transfer facility located in Chickasaw, Oklahoma.
According to court documents, Russell was serving a 112-month sentence since January 2013 in the Bureau of Prisons after being charged by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri for mailing threatening communications and threatening to murder a U.S. magistrate judge.
U.S. Attorney Rachelle Aud Crowe stated, ‘Judges and probation officers serve the public by upholding the rule of law and supervising offenders in the court system. To threaten their lives for doing their jobs is abhorrent.’
Russell will spend another decade in prison for sending death threats and making threats of violence.
Key Facts
- State: Illinois
- Category: Violent Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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