August 04, 2005

NEWS RELEASE:

Florida Man Receivers Life Sentence in Anthrax Threat

Panama City - Gregory R. Miller, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida, announced today that ROGER V. EVANS, age 51, was sentenced on Wednesday to life in prison by U.S. District Judge Casey Rogers. Evans, who is incarcerated in a state correctional facility, received the life sentence for mailing an anthrax threat letter in April 2004 to the office of the Clerk of the U.S. District Court in Pensacola, Florida. The letter contained a substance later determined to be non-toxic.

In December 2004, Evans plead guilty to violations of three federal statutes in connection with the anthrax threat: Title 18, U.S. Code, Section 2332a(a)(3), threatened use of a weapon of mass destruction against property that is owned, leased, or used by the U.S. government; Title 18, U.S. Code, Section 876(c), mailing threatening communications; and Title 18, U.S. Code, Section 111(a), assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain federal officers.

At sentencing, it was disclosed that during the course of the investigation and prosecution of Evans, he continued to send threatening communications to the court, to the federal prosecutor assigned to the case, and to his defense counsel. In the week preceding sentencing, the defendant sent a claimed biological agent through the mail to the federal prosecutor, requiring an immediate response from the FBI, USMS, and Hazardous Materials personnel. The substance was again found to be non-toxic. On the day of sentencing, the federal prosecutor was provided with yet another communication from the defendant threatening the prosecutor, the court, and the defendant’s defense counsel, and their families. In this communication, the defendant claimed to have as many as four accomplishes outside of prison that would carry out the defendant’s threats.

Mr. Evans received life imprisonment on the charge related to threatened use of anthrax. This sentence, and his conviction under the new federal “terrorism” statutes of which Section 2332a is one, represents one of the first such convictions under this particular statute in the country. The defendant also received sentences of 120 months and 96 months imprisonment respectively on the other two charges. Evans received an enhancement to his sentence under Title 18, U.S. Code, Section 3559, due to his actions qualifying as a serious violent felony. Additionally, Evans was ordered to pay $827.50 in restitution to the victims.

Evans will serve the remainder of his state sentence in custody of the Florida Department of Corrections. His tentative release date is in June 2030. He will then be placed in custody of the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the U.S. Marshals Service participated in the investigation. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Swaim.