Connecticut Man Indicted for Mailing Threatening Letters

David B. Fein, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that a federal grand jury sitting in Bridgeport returned a five-count indictment today charging ROLAND PREJEAN, also known as “Gary Joseph Gravelle,” 43, formerly of Thomaston and Morris, Connecticut, with one count of using the U.S. Mail to communicate a bomb threat and four counts of mailing threatening communications, one of which threatened federal employees.

The indictment alleges that, in early September 2010, PREJEAN mailed a threatening letter to the Thomaston Post Office claiming that he had planted a hidden bomb on a remote timer in the Post Office.

According to documents previously filed in court, the letter resulted in the evacuation of the Thomaston Post Office as well as the Thomaston Town Hall and a Thomaston Public School, which were in the immediate vicinity of the Post Office. Bomb technicians from the Connecticut State Police Emergency Services Unit searched the post office for explosive or incendiary devices with negative results.

The indictment further alleges that PREJEAN also mailed a letter to a Connecticut Superior Court Judge in New London that included a substance that was represented to be “Liquid Anthrax,” and that he sent threatening letters to a private individual and a probation officer in Connecticut. According to documents previously filed in court, in those letters PREJEAN threatened to kill numerous people.

PREJEAN has been detained since his arrest in North Dakota on September 7, 2010.

If convicted, PREJEAN faces a maximum term of imprisonment of 10 years for making a bomb threat through the mail; a maximum term of imprisonment of 10 years for mailing a threatening communication to federal employees; and a maximum term of imprisonment of five years of each of the three counts of mailing a threatening communication.

U.S. Attorney Fein stressed that an indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. Charges are only allegations and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

U.S. Attorney Fein commended the substantial efforts and cooperation of the several agencies involved in this investigation including the Federal Bureau of Investigation in New Haven, Minneapolis, and Bismarck; the United States Postal Inspection Service in Connecticut and North Dakota; the United States Marshals Service in Connecticut; the Connecticut State Police Emergency Services Unit and the Thomaston Police Department.

U.S. Attorney Fein also acknowledged the critical assistance provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of North Dakota and particularly that of Assistant United States Attorney David D. Hagler.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Stephen B. Reynolds and David E. Novick.