WMD Threats: Some Thugs Never Learn
Jim Kouri, CPP
September 02, 2005
Roger Evans was sentenced to life in prison by US District Court judge in Panama City, Florida last month. Evans, already an inmate at a Florida state correctional facility, received the life sentence for mailing an anthrax threat letter in April 2004 to the office of the Clerk of the US District Court in Pensacola, Florida. The letter contained a substance later determined to be non-toxic.
In December 2004, Evans pled guilty to violating three federal statutes in connection with the anthrax threat: he threatened use of a weapon of mass destruction against property that is owned, leased, or used by the US government; he mailed threatening communications using the US Postal Service; and he assaulted, resisted, and impeded certain federal officers.
Now comes the bizarre part of the Roger Evans case: during sentencing it was revealed that during the course of the investigation and prosecution of Evans, he continued to send threatening communications to the court, to the federal prosecutor assigned to the case, and even to his own defense counsel.
In fact, during the week preceding sentencing, Evans sent what he claimed was a biological agent through the mail to the federal prosecutor, requiring an immediate response from the FBI and Hazardous Materials or HazMat personnel. The substance was again found to be non-toxic.
But that's not all. On the very day of his sentencing, Evan sent the federal prosecutor yet another communication threatening the prosecutor, the entire court and the his defense counsel, as well as their families. This time, the defendant claimed to have as many as four accomplishes outside of prison that would carry out the defendant’s WMD attacks.
Mr. Evans received life imprisonment on the charge related to threatened use of anthrax. This sentence, and his conviction under the new federal “terrorism," represents one of the first such convictions under this particular statute in the country. The defendant also received sentences of 120 months and 96 months imprisonment respectively on the other two charges. Evans received an enhancement to his sentence due to his actions qualifying as a serious violent felony.
Evans will serve the remainder of his state sentence in custody of the Florida Department of Corrections. His tentative release date is in June 2030 at which time he will be 76-years old. He will then be placed in custody of the US Bureau of Prisons for the remainder of his life. One can safely assume the corrections officers, supervisors and warden will begin receiving threats from Evans. It is often said that the definition of insanity is doing the same things over and over and over again, each time expecting different results. In Roger Evans' case it appears to be an accurate description of insanity.
Source: US v. Evans, USDC, Northern District of Florida (2005)
In December 2004, Evans pled guilty to violating three federal statutes in connection with the anthrax threat: he threatened use of a weapon of mass destruction against property that is owned, leased, or used by the US government; he mailed threatening communications using the US Postal Service; and he assaulted, resisted, and impeded certain federal officers.
Now comes the bizarre part of the Roger Evans case: during sentencing it was revealed that during the course of the investigation and prosecution of Evans, he continued to send threatening communications to the court, to the federal prosecutor assigned to the case, and even to his own defense counsel.
In fact, during the week preceding sentencing, Evans sent what he claimed was a biological agent through the mail to the federal prosecutor, requiring an immediate response from the FBI and Hazardous Materials or HazMat personnel. The substance was again found to be non-toxic.
But that's not all. On the very day of his sentencing, Evan sent the federal prosecutor yet another communication threatening the prosecutor, the entire court and the his defense counsel, as well as their families. This time, the defendant claimed to have as many as four accomplishes outside of prison that would carry out the defendant’s WMD attacks.
Mr. Evans received life imprisonment on the charge related to threatened use of anthrax. This sentence, and his conviction under the new federal “terrorism," represents one of the first such convictions under this particular statute in the country. The defendant also received sentences of 120 months and 96 months imprisonment respectively on the other two charges. Evans received an enhancement to his sentence due to his actions qualifying as a serious violent felony.
Evans will serve the remainder of his state sentence in custody of the Florida Department of Corrections. His tentative release date is in June 2030 at which time he will be 76-years old. He will then be placed in custody of the US Bureau of Prisons for the remainder of his life. One can safely assume the corrections officers, supervisors and warden will begin receiving threats from Evans. It is often said that the definition of insanity is doing the same things over and over and over again, each time expecting different results. In Roger Evans' case it appears to be an accurate description of insanity.
Source: US v. Evans, USDC, Northern District of Florida (2005)
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