An Ohio man who over the past 10 months sent dozens of threatening messages to 34 people, including politicians and members of law enforcement, is facing criminal charges of cyberstalking and making threats, federal prosecutors said on Friday.
The man, Ronald Lidderdale, sent 65 letters and emails, including some in which he said that he would send the recipients bullets with their names on them or said that he was prepared to kill them.
Mr. Lidderdale, 39, who was described by officials as being from central Ohio, was arrested on Friday and appeared in federal court to face charges of making interstate communications with a threat to kidnap or injure, mailing threatening communications, false information and hoaxes, and cyberstalking.
He admitted to Federal Bureau of Investigation agents this week that he sent the letters and emails intending to incite fear “with the goal of changing behavior,” prosecutors said.
Some of the letters he sent contained a white powder that he claimed in writing was the lethal poison ricin, prosecutors said. The authorities did not say what the powder was.
At least one of his letters was sent with a bullet with the last name of a public official etched onto it using a screwdriver.
The targets of the messages were not publicly identified. The letters featured return addresses with various names of people around Columbus, Ohio.
Last week, Mr. Lidderdale sent letters with a hit list of eight targets whom he said he would kill in May, according to court documents.
It was unclear from court records whether Mr. Lidderdale had a lawyer.
In the messages, according to prosecutors, Mr. Lidderdale used threatening language, warning recipients that they would “receive the gift of their names etched onto a single bullet” and that “their skull is the target the bullet is the gift.”
In other messages, Mr. Lidderdale told the recipients, “I will kill you for your ignorant loyalty to your pedophilic party,” adding that he would kill them “for the good of The People.”
“Your death will come when you least expect it,” he wrote in one message.
It was unclear if Mr. Lidderdale targeted a certain political party.
He also sent threats to news outlets around Columbus. At times, Mr. Lidderdale sent multiple letters in a single day, including 10 he mailed on Jan. 17, court documents said.
Federal investigators traced online communications back to Mr. Lidderdale, according to court documents. They then found surveillance footage of Mr. Lidderdale at post offices in Columbus, where some of the threatening letters were postmarked on the days they were mailed.
On May 1, an online user messaged the F.B.I.’s National Threat Operations Center using the bureau’s online portal and said that they wished to kill Ohio politicians and that the messenger’s patience was running out.
The message originated from an iPhone that was associated with Mr. Lidderdale, according to court documents.
Agents responded to that message and offered to meet the sender, who agreed to call them on May 8. The sender called and then agreed to drive to the F.B.I. field office in Columbus.
Mr. Lidderdale showed up driving the Hyundai Elantra that had been observed in connection to the threats sent from the post offices. He admitted to sending the threatening letters, according to court documents.
Jack Begg contributed research.
