Man arrested for making threats to governor in Henderson tree case

The man found guilty three years ago of ruining 546 trees in Henderson has been arrested for making threats to Gov. Jim Gibbons regarding the case.

Douglas Hoffman, 63, was arrested by police in Arizona on March 19 on a Nevada felony charge of "making or conveying false information concerning acts of terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, lethal agents or toxins."

Hoffman, a resident of Goodyear, Ariz., was convicted in 2007 of cutting down or poisoning trees in the Sun City Anthem community to preserve his view of the Strip. A judge sentenced him to 18 months to five years in prison and ordered him to pay $246,085 in restitution.

Nevada Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Gail Powell confirmed that the new charges were for threatening letters he sent in 2007.

Authorities at Hoffman's sentencing said that he sent threatening, rambling letters to Gibbons, as well as the president of Pulte Homes and several local media outlets about seven months before his November 2007 trial.

The typed, unsigned letters said that they came from "USA Organized Militia, LLC," but they bore Hoffman's thumbprint, prosecutor Josh Tomsheck said in 2007.

"If no changes come soon -- and soon means now immediately -- the militia has many options ... we can raze entire Pulte communities, we can conduct drive-bys, torch house after house, use IED (improvised explosive device) methods and or ... chemical, biological, nuclear mass destruction or all of the above to make changes," the letters said, according to Tomsheck, who read one in court.

Hoffman was released on $100,000 bail on Friday and is scheduled to appear in an Arizona courtroom April 7, Powell said.