Indictment: As anthrax, bomb threats surfaced in Connecticut, suspected white supremacist also mailed President Trump a death threat

A Connecticut man with claimed ties to a white supremacist group was accused of sending more than a dozen threats last September that targeted federal judges, mental health facilities and minority groups in Connecticut, as well as a threat to kill President Donald Trump, a newly unsealed indictment shows.

Gary Joseph Gravelle, 51, who was charged with similar crimes in 2010 under the name Roland Prejean, faces 16 counts associated with the menacing messages, including threats against the president, after he was indicted last week by a grand jury in New Haven, federal court records show.

According to the indictment, Gravelle first started sending threatening emails on the evening of Sept. 4, beginning with a bomb threat to mental health facility in New Haven.

Within several hours, he had made bomb threats against U.S. Probation officers, who were not identified. At least one threat referenced their offices in the Abraham A. Ribicoff Federal Building in Hartford. Near midnight, the indictment shows, Gravelle sent threats that targeted Burlington International Airport in Vermont and a federal prison in Seattle.

By early Sept. 5, Gravelle sent two more emails with bomb threats to mental health facilities in New Haven, according to the grand jury indictment.

Gravelle then made two calls before dawn on Sept. 5 threatening U.S. District Judge Vanessa L. Bryant and a New Haven mental health facility, the indictment shows.

Federal authorities also accused Gravelle of sending a number of letters with bomb and anthrax threats to buildings in Hartford, Old Saybrook and Bristol.

He sent three letters with non-specific addresses that just said: “N.A.A.C.P – New Haven,” “Islamic Center of New London,” and “the indictment reads. Some of the notes included the words: “You Die” and a description of anthrax , along with a white powder.

At least one other letter, addressed to “The Honorable P Resident Donald Trump,” again referenced anthrax. It is unclear from the indictment where the letter was intercepted.

Gravelle wrote: “I, Gary Gravelle, …. as a faithful solider of the AKA, am coming to KILL Donald Trump,” the indictment read.

A number of other locations, including a state office building on Columbus Boulevard in Hartford, received threats that authorities believed at the time were connected, but those incidents were not referenced in the 10-page indictment.

Gravelle was living in New Haven at the time of his arrest last September and was on supervised release stemming from the 2010 case, in which he sent more than 50 threatening letters across the country. One of those letters, authorities said, targeted a Superior Court judge.

“In early September 2010, [Gravelle] embarked on a cross-country road trip, during which he wrote and mailed a myriad of letters threatening to kill and/or injure both public officials and private citizens, as well as to blow up various public buildings,” federal prosecutors wrote of the crimes.

Prior to his sentencing in 2013, Gravelle’s attorney asked the judge for leniency, saying that Gravelle had a long history with mental health problems, with diagnosed bipolar and antisocial personality disorder. His lawyer said Gravelle had several long stays in Connecticut Valley Hospital, the state-run mental health facility.

Gravelle has been in federal custody since last September, but was not formally charged with threats until he was indicted by the grand jury.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter with the U.S. Attorney’s office in Connecticut is prosecuting the case, officials said.