FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ON
May 2, 2007

CONTACT: Jean McNeil
Public Information Officer
(208) 334-1211

INMATE SENTENCED FOR THREATENING PRESIDENT

An inmate of the Ada County Jail has been sentenced to 37 months in federal prison for writing a letter threatening to kill President Bush.

Ricky Arnell Ward, 20, was serving an Idaho State sentence for an unrelated offense in January 2006 when he sent a letter to the FBI in Boise containing the threat. The envelope included Ward's name and return address at the Ada County Jail.

The letter read, in part, "My name is Ricky A. Ward. Why Im writing you is because for the past 6 months I have been planning to kill the Presdent of the USA! . . . Why I am doing this is because he is a stupid . . . man and someone needs to kill him befor he get's all the people in the USA killed (sic)."

When interviewed by the Secret Service the day after the FBI received the letter, Ward acknowledged writing it and said he suffered from depression, anger and command hallucinations, and that if he received command hallucinations concerning the President after he got out of jail, he might act on them.

Ward later signed a plea agreement acknowledging the threat.

The Secret Service investigation also revealed that Ward had previously threatened a local judge, had pled guilty and was awaiting sentencing. Moreover, in January 2007, before he signed the federal plea agreement, Ward allegedly wrote a threatening letter to the Ada County Juvenile Court. He faces state charges in regard to that letter.

In sentencing Ward, U.S. District Judge Edward J. Lodge noted that he has been in the criminal justice system since he was a young teenager and has 13 prior convictions.

Ward will finish his current state sentence before starting his federal sentence.