Man jailed for allegedly threatening Orange County sheriff
Thursday February 06, 2003SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) A young man was jailed without bail for allegedly threatening the lives of Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona and another person.
Daniel Tibor Townsend, 23, pleaded innocent Tuesday to two felony counts of making criminal threats and one count of threatening to kill a public official, said sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino. He also pleaded innocent to a misdemeanor count of interfering with an arrest and was ordered to return to Superior Court on Feb. 13 for a pretrial hearing.
Townsend, of Costa Mesa, was arrested Sunday after sheriff's investigators went to his home to talk to him about alleged threats made Friday against Pamela Schader of Santa Ana Heights, the mother of one of his friends.
At the home, investigators said, they saw a newspaper photo of the sheriff, with a bull's eye target drawn on Carona's head, taped to a door. Allegedly written on the article was: ``I'll serve that to you, Mike.''
KCAL-TV reported that Townsend's mother had visited with Carona recently to seek advice on how to help her son, whom she believes was left mentally unstable after a near-fatal 1997 car crash. Carona is the co-author of a book, ``Save My Son,'' on how parents can deal with troubled children.
``My family admires him and thinks he's a great sheriff,'' Townsend's sister Denise said. ``He's not the judge. But we believe he will be fair and just.''
In a statement issued Tuesday night, Townsend's family expressed regret over the incident.
``Our family hopes Danny will finally receive the treatment that he needs. We will never give up and love him dearly,'' the statement said.
Townsend was in a coma for 4{ months following the , crash, which killed one of his friends and badly injured another.
Ten teenagers were riding in a Chevrolet Blazer driven by Jason Rausch when it overturned, throwing Townsend and seven others from the vehicle. Rausch was convicted of misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter and sentenced to probation.
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