Imprisoned man sentenced to longer prison term for threatening federal judges and others

Aug. 22 (UPI) – A man who threatened to kill federal judges, U.S. marshals and federal prosecutors in letters from prison has been sentenced to an additional 20 years in prison, the Justice Department announced Thursday.

Michael Dean Drew, 51, was sentenced to two decades in prison, which he will serve in addition to his current sentence. He had already been arrested and convicted five times for sending similar letters to federal judges, assistant U.S. attorneys and federal police officers.

“Officers who work to keep our country safe and uphold the rule of law should not have to fear for their lives or those of their families,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a Justice Department statement. “This ruling should make clear that the Department of Justice will not tolerate violence or threats of violence against officers.”

Officials said Drew sent a letter to a federal judge in Florida in May 2023, threatening that the judge would “die a violent death for presiding over a particular criminal case.”

In August 2023, Drew sent two letters to the federal court in Miami threatening another federal judge and members of the U.S. Marshal Service, justice officials said.

In each of the letters, Drew described how he recruited other people to brutally murder the judge and members of the U.S. Marshal Service, the Justice Department said.

In September 2023, from his Florida detention, Drew sent letters to assistant U.S. attorneys in Virginia and Georgia claiming that he had recruited gang members and Aryan Nation affiliates to “brutally murder the Assistant U.S. Attorneys and their family members.”

“In each letter, Drew expressed his sincere intention to carry out the threats and described in detail how each of the victims would die,” the Justice Department press release said.

In one letter, Drew wrote that it would give him “great pleasure to know that you will suffer and die” and that the judge's body would be “disposed of like a piece of garbage and thrown in a ditch.” Other letters to officials contained similarly violent threats, claiming that he was recruiting members of the Aryan Nation to murder as many U.S. Marshals as possible.

Drew claimed in his letters that the violence against the officers was retaliation for their role in the justice system.

Drew pleaded guilty in June to five counts of sending threatening letters.