Two Suwanee Correctional Institute Inmates Indicted for Making Hoax Anthrax Threats
| U.S. Attorney’s Office February 07, 2013 |
JACKSONVILLE—United States Attorney Robert E. O’Neill announces the return by a grand jury of two separate indictments charging Randy C. Johnson (22) and Johnell Ford (21), both inmates of the Florida Department of Corrections, with sending hoax anthrax letters to sitting judges. If convicted, they each face a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison. The federal prison sentences may run consecutive to sentences they are currently serving in state custody.
According to the indictment charging Johnson, in January 2012, Johnson allegedly sent an envelope containing a threatening letter and a substance purporting to be anthrax to a sitting United States Magistrate Judge in Tampa. According to the indictment charging Ford, in August 2012, Ford allegedly sent a threatening letter and a substance purporting to be anthrax to a sitting Florida circuit judge in Tampa. Both individuals were inmates of the Suwannee Correctional Institute at the time of making the hoax threats.
An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed a violation of the federal criminal laws, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless, and until, proven guilty.
These cases were investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Florida Highway Patrol, and the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office. They will be prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Mac D. Heavener, III.