Ohio man sent threats saying he had bullets etched with people’s names, U.S. alleges

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 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.

Lidderdale, 39, who was described by officials as being from central Ohio, was arrested 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 FBI agents this past 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. 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, 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 Lidderdale had a lawyer.

In the messages, according to prosecutors, 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, 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 Lidderdale targeted a certain political party.

He also sent threats to news outlets around Columbus. At times, Lidderdale sent multiple letters in a single day, including 10 he mailed Jan. 17, court documents said.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.