HOUSTON— A 43-year-old Houston man who threatened a federal judge was sentenced Wednesday to nearly two years in prison, federal authorities announced today.
George Yarbrough, 43, sent a letter to the judge threatening him and his family, U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson stated.
U.S. District Judge Nancy Atlas, who accepted the guilty plea, sentenced Yarbrough to 21 months. Yarbrough will serve this sentence after he finishes serving his current sentence in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, officials said.
As part of his plea, Yarbrough admitted that on or about Sept. 26, 2014, he knowingly mailed a communication threatening to kill this federal judge in Houston. The letter was received at the Bob Casey U.S. Courthouse. in Houston.
In the letter, Yarbrough warned the federal judge that he intended to kill him as soon as he got out of TDCJ. Yarbrough claimed the judge had ruined Yarbrough’s life and that he had lost of his loved ones. Yarbrough repeated the threat throughout the letter with a final note that “…I’m coming to get you and your family!”
Yarbrough was interviewed on two occasions and never denied sending the letter.
Yarbrough indicated the basis for the threat was because the judge had dismissed a civil rights lawsuit Yarbrough filed against TDCJ personnel several years earlier, officials said.
After he gets out of prison, Yarbrough was ordered to undergo mental health counseling, officials said.