LAS VEGAS — A Las Vegas man has been charged with threatening to harm and kill government officials in three states and the District of Columbia, including the New York judge and prosecutor who handled former President Donald Trump’s criminal trial, according to federal authorities and court records.
Spencer Gear, 32, was being held Friday in federal custody in Nevada following his arrest and guilty plea Tuesday to 22 felony counts of threatening a federal employee and transmitting a communication containing a threat to harm. Gear’s indictment was filed under seal on July 16.
Rebecca Levy, a federal public defender who represents Gear in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas, did not respond Friday to messages seeking comment.
The indictment lists 11 alleged victims by initials, including two in a phone call from Nevada to New York that “threatened to kill AB and JM,” referring to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and New York Judge Juan M. Merchandise.
Bragg’s office declined to comment. A message was left for a spokesperson for the New York state court system.
In her order returning Gear to federal custody ahead of trial, U.S. Magistrate Judge Brenda Weksler cited “the number of connections at play in this case,” with victims also in New Jersey and Montana.
The judge focused on a recording of a June 3 phone message “directed to a judge and a district attorney” and called the language Gear allegedly used “of great concern to the court.”
That date was the Monday after a jury found Trump guilty on all 34 counts in a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election through a hush money payment to a porn star who said the two had sex. Trump’s lawyers have has since asked Merchan to overturn the verdict, citing the recent Supreme Court immunity ruling. The judge said he will decide in September.
Weksler noted that Gear had little criminal history, noting two driving-related infractions, but was charged by federal authorities with resisting arrest last week.
“The defendant does not appear to have respect for the judicial system and judges,” said the magistrate judge. The trial is scheduled for September 24.
Bragg’s office, which prosecuted Trump’s criminal case for hiding the money, has reported at least 56 “actionable threats” directed against Bragg, his family and employees, and nearly 500 threatening emails and phone calls since April.
They included bomb threats at the homes of two people involved in the case on the first day of Trump’s trial, April 15; a photo showing the scope of a sniper aimed at the people involved in the case, according to police; and threatening messages such as: “we will kill you all” and “Your life is over”.
In 2023, police recorded 89 threats to Bragg, his family or employees, up from one threat in 2022, his first year in office.
This year’s wave of threats began on March 18, according to testimony from the head of the Bragg police detail, the day Trump falsely posted online that he was about to be arrested and encouraged his supporters to protest and “regain the our nation!”
A few days later, Bragg’s office received a letter containing a small amount of white powder and a note saying, “Alvin: I’m going to kill you.”
Court officials said Merchan also received dozens of death threats.
Following Trump’s indictment in April 2023, a state court spokesperson said Merchan’s offices were “receiving the predictable defamatory and harassing calls and emails.”
In April, a 26-year-old New York man was accused of sending text messages threatening New York State Attorney General Letitia James and the judge in Trump’s civil fraud case, Arthur Engoron, with “death and physical harm” if they did not do so. cease action” on the Trump issue.
In August 2023, FBI agents killed a gunman in Utah who was suspected of making threats against Bragg, Garland, James and President Joe Biden. Family members of Craig Deleeuw Robertson, who was killed by agents while trying to serve a warrant at his home in Provo, Utah, described him as a gun enthusiast who was concerned about “a corrupt and overreaching government.”
This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com read the full story
