A 63-year-old Costa Mesa man previously charged with threatening Orange County Dist. Atty. Todd Spitzer was charged Wednesday with threatening him again.
Danny Bruce Richards was charged with criminal threats and threatening public officials, both felonies. He pleaded not guilty at his arraignment and was instructed to return to court March 5 for a pretrial hearing in the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana.
The alleged threats were made Feb. 9, according to the criminal complaint.
Richards, who was a traffic engineer for Orange County Public Works, was accused in 2022 of threatening Spitzer and Richards’ boss, Denis Bilodeau. That case was ultimately dismissed July 23, according to court records.
That case stemmed from Adult Protective Services officials doing a welfare check on him on July 14, 2022. Richards complained about Spitzer and Bilodeau, who is now mayor pro tem of the Orange City Council and president of the Orange County Water District, according to court records.
Richards allegedly asked the Adult Protective Services official if she had “a silencer,” according to court records from the 2022 case. He was also accused of saying something to the effect of taking out people in his way.
His attorneys filed a motion to have Richards placed in a pretrial diversion program for those with mental health issues but later withdrew that motion, according to court records.
Richards was also charged with a misdemeanor count of making annoying telephone calls last year but failed to appear and a warrant was issued for his arrest. He pleaded not guilty to that charge on Wednesday.