CHARLESTON — A Massachusetts man has been arrested for allegedly threatening a Kanawha County judge through mailed communications.
Keith Lessard, 40, was arrested on a federal criminal complaint that alleged he sent a series of mail communications to a Kanawha judge threatening her and attempting to extort money from her and harm her reputation by claiming she had engaged in illegal prosecutorial misconduct while she was an assistant prosecuting attorney in Kanawha County in 2010.
U.S. Attorney Mike Stuart said in a news release that he took the threats seriously.
“Any threat to any member of the judiciary is taken very seriously," Stuart said in a news release. "I commend the FBI and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service for conducting the thorough investigation which led to Lessard’s arrest today."
The press release from Stuart’s office didn’t mention the judge who was threatened by Lessard, but Circuit Judge Tera Salango was the only judge who was an assistant county prosecutor in 2010.
Salango declined to comment about the matter, saying she is prohibited from talking about a pending court case.
Lessard faces up to two years in prison if he is convicted.
"We take extortion threats very seriously and will investigate them to our full potential,” FBI Pittsburgh Special Agent in Charge Michael Christman said in a news release. "People who think they can extort others need to know there will be consequences. These crimes cause severe emotional distress and will not be tolerated."
The criminal complaint notes that Lessard's claims of illegal prosecutorial misconduct are without evidence to support them.
"The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is committed to preserving the integrity of the U.S. mail," Acting Inspector in Charge of the Pittsburgh Division Tosha Dennis said in a news release. "By working closely with our law enforcement partners in operations like this, we can hold those engaged in terrible crimes accountable for their actions."
The FBI and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service are conducting an investigation.
FBI Special Agent James F. Lafferty wrote in his affidavit, which the criminal complaint is based on, that Lessard sent a series of communications to the judge between August 2019 and June 23 — using both the U.S. Postal Service and e-mail.
Lafferty wrote that a grand jury convened in 2010 and returned an indictment charging Lessard with one count of conspiracy and four counts of forgery and uttering. He pled guilty in July 2010. He later violated his probation and was incarcerated for 60 days.
Lessard sent the victim several e-mail and mail communications that said his civil rights were heavily violated and that he had been "pushed forward through the system in a very illegal and unheard of manner."
In his Jan. 23 e-mail, Lessard said that his charges were supposed to be dismissed, but that, instead, someone penciled his name in with charges to appear in the courtroom. He wrote, "we have a MAJOR problem and I want to do this without exposing you or anyone involved as it would ruin your reputation and the Kanawha County Judicial System forever."
In an 11-page letter Lessard sent to the victim, he wrote that she had ruined his life and that someone's "wallet or purse is going to have to take a pretty nice sized hit." He said the settlement was non-negotiable and needed to be a large sum of money.
