South Dakota Inmate Sentenced for Mailing Threatening Letter to Judge

U.S. Attorney Brendan V. Johnson announced that a South Dakota State Penitentiary inmate charged with sending threatening letters was sentenced on November 23, 2010, by U.S. District Judge Lyle Strom. James Archambault, age 48, was sentenced to 77 months of incarceration to run concurrently with the time he is presently serving on a state sentence.

Archambault was indicted by a federal grand jury on July 7, 2009, for mailing threatening communications. In December of 2008, Archambault mailed a letter in an envelope addressed to a United States District Judge in Rapid City, South Dakota. Archambault was an inmate at the South Dakota State Penitentiary when he sent the letter to be delivered by the U.S. Postal Service. The handwritten letter was 15 pages and contained threats to injure and kill a United States District Judge. He pled guilty to the indictment on September 20, 2010.

This case was investigated by the FBI. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey C. Clapper prosecuted the case.