Sentence Upheld for Man Convicted of Sending Racially Motivated Threats

United States Attorney Steven M. Dettelbach (Northern District of Ohio) announced that, upon a motion by the government, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has dismissed an appeal filed by David A. Tuason, of Pepper Pike, Ohio who pleaded guilty in May of 2008 to two counts of transmitting threatening interstate communications, 18 U.S.C. § 875(c) and six counts of mailing threatening communications,18 U.S.C. § 876(c). The District Court sentenced Tuason to 46 months' imprisonment followed by three years of supervised release in August 2008. Tuason appealed the sentence imposed by the District Court, challenging its reasonableness. The Court of Appeals held that the District Court’s sentence was reasonable and did not merit appeal.

Tuason engaged in an elaborate scheme of sending racially motivated threatening communications via the United States Postal Service and electronic mail intended to threaten and intimidate with bodily injury African-American males known to affiliate with white females. Tuason threatened an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, athletes, and entertainers as well as children of mixed race parents. Tuason’s threatening communications were sent to victims across the United States as well as locally in the Cleveland, Ohio area and at times threats were made to blow up the facility or building in which the targeted victim was located.

The investigation was conducted by the Cleveland Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, as well as the Office of the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio and the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United State Attorney Dean M. Valore.