Henderson man charged with threatening federal judge
A Henderson man with a lengthy criminal record has been charged in Las Vegas with making Facebook threats to kill a federal judge in Phoenix.
Jason Andre Willis, 40, was ordered detained late Friday until his Nov. 30 preliminary examination in federal court on a single felony count of threatening interstate communications.
According to an FBI complaint, he made several Facebook comments Nov. 11 aimed at the judge, who once presided over a civil suit Willis filed in Phoenix.
In one comment, he is alleged to have said, "We will put a bomb around Phoenix, Arizona district court." Another comment read, "Kill this judge? (He) is a United States federal judge." This included biographical information about the judge and a copy of a court docket sheet for Willis' 2004 discrimination case, the complaint said.
The judge is not identified in the complaint, but U.S. District Judge Neil V. Wake, who has been on the bench since March 2004, is listed in electronic court records as presiding over the civil case. The information about the judge Willis is alleged to have posted also matches a Wikipedia biography of Wake.
Records show Wake dismissed the discrimination suit in 2006 and has since instructed the clerk's office not to accept anymore "improper and unintelligible" court papers from Willis.
According to the complaint, Willis has an arrest record dating to 1995 on an array of charges, including burglary, providing false information to police officers, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and second-degree murder.
He also was arrested for resisting arrest and making a false bomb report and annoying calls to 911, the complaint alleges.
Contact Jeff German at jgerman@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-8135. Follow him on Twitter: @JGermanRJ
