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An Indiana man faces four years in prison after he was convicted of mailing threatening letters to the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. District Court in Indianapolis, with the latter letter containing a threat that it contained harmful materials.
U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis sentenced Roger King, 39, t0 48 months in prison followed by two years of supervised release after he pleaded guilty to two counts of mailing threatening communications, announced Acting United States Attorney M. Scott Proctor.
This sentence will run consecutive to the state sentence King was serving at the time of the offense and is still serving today.
According to court documents, on Nov. 9, 2021, while incarcerated on Indiana state charges at the New Castle Correctional Facility, King mailed a letter to the U.S. Supreme Court Clerk addressed to the “Republican Justices.”
In the letter, King threatened to detonate a bomb at the U.S. Supreme Court building. King wrote that he was “very serious” and had “every intention to come to Washington to use a bomb” that would “blow up and kill all of you Republican Justices.”
Almost five months later, on April 1, 2022, while still incarcerated at the New Castle Correctional Facility, King mailed a letter to the U.S. District Court Clerk in the Southern District of Indiana addressed to two federal judges who were presiding over a civil case King had filed.
The letter contained a harmless white powdery substance accompanied by language suggesting it was anthrax or boric acid. It was opened by a judicial employee, prompting an extensive law enforcement and public health response to contain the threat.
“Threats directed at members of the judiciary are not only criminal acts, but direct attacks on the rule of law,” Proctor said in a news release. “No judge should ever have to fear that an adverse ruling will provoke an attack.”
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the United States Supreme Court Police, with assistance provided by the United States Marshals Service, the Indiana State Police, the Indiana Department of Correction, the Marion County Public Health Department, and the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.
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