PENSACOLA, FLORIDA – Craig T. Pope, 29, and Justin B. Lane,
34, were arraigned on May 3 and today, respectively, in the U.S. District Court
in Pensacola after a federal grand jury returned two separate indictments
charging each of them with mailing threatening communications and threatened
use of a weapon of mass destruction. The
indictments were announced by Christopher P. Canova, United States Attorney for
the Northern District of Florida.
According to Pope’s indictment, in April and May 2017, Pope
mailed a letter to a judge threatening a bomb and an anthrax outbreak in the
courthouse. According to Lane’s
indictment, in August 2017, Lane mailed a letter to the Polk County State
Attorney’s Office threatening to use anthrax.
Pope’s trial is scheduled for June 4 at 9:00 a.m., and
Lane’s trial is scheduled for July 9 at 8:00 a.m.
If convicted of mailing threatening communications, Pope and
Lane face a maximum of five years in prison.
If convicted of threatened use of a weapon of mass destruction, the
defendants face a maximum of life in prison.
These cases resulted from investigations by the Federal
Bureau of Investigation, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the
Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, and the Tampa Police Department. Assistant United States Attorney David L.
Goldberg is prosecuting the cases.
An indictment is merely an allegation that a defendant has
committed a violation of federal criminal law and is not evidence of
guilt. All defendants are presumed
innocent and entitled to a fair trial, during which it will be the government’s
burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.
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