Threats against jail staff land N. Warren man in jail
A North Warren man who threatened to kill a Warren County Jail official will spend additional time in the Warren County Jail.
Matthew J. Gray, 35, 9 Ditmar St., was sentenced by President Judge Maureen Skerda on Monday on four counts of terroristic threats.
Gray took the case to trial back in June and a jury returned a split verdict — guilty to the terroristic threats charges and not guilty on charges of retaliation for past official action, defiant trespass and loitering and prowling at night time.
Conewango Township police were dispatched to a State Street residence about 7 p.m. on Dec. 5, according to the affidavit of probable cause.
The official told officers that Gray knocked on the door, asking to speak with him. A conversation ensued and “Gray then stated that he would kill (the official) and that he ‘had better be careful at his job,’ ” according to the affidavit of probable cause.
Gray also told the official that his work “would not save him.”
Gray, police alleged, also made threats against an officer with an out-of-county department.
The official “yelled for Gray to leave but Gray continued shortly on about his anti-government stance,” the affidavit states.
Law enforcement was contacted, but Gray fled before officers arrived.
Gray’s attorney, Chief Public Defender Kord Kinney, acknowledged that “clearly, the crime was impactful to the victims” while District Attorney Rob Greene added that Gray has taken “absolutely zero responsibility for his actions.”
Greene asked for a long period of parole after incarceration “to help Mr. Gray comport with society.”
Skerda told Gray that he “terrorized the family.”
She then sentenced Gray to nine to 18 months incarceration with credit for 253 days time served, to undergo a mental health evaluation and comply with recommendations, to submit a DNA sample, complete 100 hours of community service and pay $1,450 on the first count.
The second count brought an additional three months less one day to six months less two days incarceration while the remaining two counts each brought two years probation.
Skerda ordered that Gray have no contact with the victims or trespass on their property.