Inmate Sentenced to Serve an Additional 77 Months in Federal Prison for Mailing Threat Letter to Federal Judge

LUBBOCK, Texas — An inmate in state custody on unrelated offenses, Dillon Alex Steele, was sentenced today by Senior U.S. District Judge Sam R. Cummings to serve an additional 77- month sentence in federal prison for mailing a threatening letter to a federal judge last year, announced U.S. Attorney John Parker of the Northern District of Texas.

Steele, 31, pleaded guilty in September 2015 to one count of mailing threatening communications.

According to the factual resume filed in the case, on April 11, 2014, an employee in the Amarillo, Texas, office of U.S. District Judge Mary Lou Robinson received a letter from Steele that was addressed to Judge Robinson and postmarked the previous day.  In the letter, the writer stated, in part, “…I’m gonna kill everyone at the courthouse, and the federal building, I’m gonna blow everything up sky high, may-be after nothing but death and destruction someone will listen then!”

Steele admitted he wrote the letter but that he did not intend to carry out his threats, but just call Judge Robinson’s attention to perceived civil rights violations at the Potter County Jail.  Steele’s DNA and fingerprints were on the letter and envelope.

The FBI investigated.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Haag prosecuted.

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