Federal Defendant Convicted of Witness Tampering, Mailing Threatening Communications

SAN FRANCISCO—On Nov. 4, a federal jury convicted a Walnut Creek, California, man of witness tampering and mailing threatening communications, United States Attorney Melinda Haag announced.

After a three-day trial, Charles Redden, 42, was found guilty of threatening to murder a former girlfriend and her family if she testified against him in federal court. The jury also found that the defendant mailed a threat to murder his former case manager at a residential drug and alcohol treatment facility. The guilty verdict followed a trial before U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn R. Walker.

“A threat to kill a witness is a threat to our criminal justice system,” United States Attorney Melinda Haag said. “This prosecution shows that witness tampering will be vigorously prosecuted.”

Evidence at trial showed that Redden wrote a letter in which he threatened, in graphic terms, to sexually assault, rape, torture, and murder a former girlfriend, her children, and her father if she testified against him in a federal proceeding. Redden met the woman on an online dating website, where he misrepresented his background and identity. Evidence at trial also revealed that Redden wrote two letters to his former case manager at a residential drug and alcohol treatment facility in which he threatened to rape, torture, mutilate, and murder her for dismissing him from the program.

Redden is currently incarcerated at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, Calif. His sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 9, 2010, before Chief Judge Walker in San Francisco. The maximum statutory penalty for the single count in violation of witness tampering, 18 United States Code Section 1512(a)(2), is 20 years and a fine of $250,000. The maximum statutory penalty for each of the three counts in violation of mailing threatening communications, 18 United States Code Section 876(c), is five years and a fine of $250,000. However, any sentence following conviction would be imposed by the court after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553.

Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Anna Tryon Pletcher and Assistant U.S. Attorney Philip Kearney are prosecuting the case with the assistance of Paralegal Nicole Beach and Legal Assistant Rosario Calderon. The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Further Information:             
Case #: CR 10-0305 VRW