EVERETT — An Everett man with a history of telephone harassment has been jailed for allegedly threatening Snohomish County Sheriff John Lovick.
The sheriff’s office received a barrage of threatening calls during the last two months. Detectives believe were made by the same man, 53.
The suspect allegedly called the sheriff’s department April 9 and told a worker, “If I see John, I will kill him.”
Detectives believe the same man called May 20 and told an office worker: “Sheriff Lovick better retire before he gets killed.”
The suspect was arrested Thursday for investigation of harassment and telephone harassment. He has not been formally charged with a crime.
Lovick wasn’t the only target of the threats, according to voice mails left with the sheriff’s office.
One recording said, “You know your Snoho helicopter pilots can be killed? They better quit flying!”
Another message said, “Yeah, all you people would look good in a casket, so would your judges and all your prosecuting attorneys.”
The man allegedly admitted making roughly 100 calls to the sheriff’s office using a temporary disposable cellphone.
He told a detective he doesn’t like law enforcement, prosecutors or judges but would never follow through on the threats.
“I never hurt anyone,” he told detectives. “I just have a big mouth.”
Deputies are taking the threats seriously, sheriff’s office spokeswoman Shari Ireton said.
A search of the man’s home turned up multiple police scanners, “which tells the officers he has the ability to monitor police movements so there is a concern for officer safety,” Ireton said.
The suspect has found himself in hot water before for similar behavior.
Police reports indicate he was identified as a suspect in the past for threatening to assault deputies and to kill a Snohomish County Superior Court judge who is now retired.
When arrested on Thursday, he allegedly told investigators he would like to take a baseball bat to a judge and that “police officers belong in coffins,” according to a police report.
In 2002, he was convicted of intimidating a juror after threatening an Arlington man who had sat on a jury in a high-profile murder case. Police were able to trace the number and found newspaper clippings in his apartment as well as a scrap of paper with the juror’s telephone number.
The victim was part of a jury that in February 2001 convicted Dennis Cramm, 18, of two counts of first-degree murder.
In that harassment case, the man was given a six-month jail sentence rather than a prison term after a judge decided there were sufficient legal reasons to give him an exceptionally low sentence. The judge said the defendant’s capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of his actions “was significantly impaired due to mental disease or defect,” court papers said.
The suspect at the time also had felony assault and intimidating a public servant convictions as well as two misdemeanor convictions for harassment.
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