A 38-year-old Alabama man facing a federal charge of interstate stalking for an alleged series of threats toward a Roman Catholic abbey in Silverado Canyon was sentenced Friday in state court in Orange County to time served for possessing brass knuckles.<\/p>\n
Joshua Michael Richardson pleaded guilty Sept. 24 to two felony counts of possession of a deadly weapon, metal knuckles, according to court records. Richardson was sentenced to 60 days in jail, or time already served in custody.<\/p>\n
Richardson, who is in federal custody, was originally charged with a felony count of criminal threats, a felony count of possessing brass knuckles, a count of possessing a dirk or dagger, all felonies, and a misdemeanor count of possession of a large-capacity magazine.<\/p>\n
An evidentiary hearing to consider the defendant\u2019s ability to assist in his defense is scheduled in federal court in Alabama on May 20.<\/p>\n
Deputy District Attorney Kelly Manley argued in court papers in September that Richardson should be denied bail.<\/p>\n
Richardson was arrested Aug. 28 on suspicion of criminal threats aimed at St. Michael\u2019s Abbey, according to the Orange County Sheriff\u2019s Department.<\/p>\n
He was accused of sending threatening emails to the abbey at 27977 Silverado Canyon Road, Manley said.<\/p>\n
In an Aug. 19 email, Richardson allegedly characterized himself as \u201cThe Angel of Death,\u201d Manley said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy seal was broken on St. Patrick\u2019s Day,\u201d he allegedly wrote. \u201cI spent the entire summer trying to reach out to the people to no avail. I was definitely the voice in the wilderness, crying out, and no one heard me. But it is now harvest season, and I will be making my way to L.A. really soon.\u201d<\/p>\n
Richardson allegedly wrote that he noticed the abbey had a \u201cchapel in my name,\u201d according to Manley.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I\u2019m hoping you already know all about me and my purpose as the rider of the pale horse,\u201d he allegedly wrote, according to Manley, referring to the incarnation of death, one of the biblical Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.<\/p>\n
Church officials said they receive \u201cbizarre or concerning emails every so often,\u201d but this one was \u201cparticularly alarming due to their biblical references,\u201d Manley wrote in court papers.<\/p>\n
A sheriff\u2019s chaplain also reviewed the email and noted that St. Michael the Archangel \u201cis the only angel\/archangel credited with defeating Lucifer,\u201d Manley wrote in the motion. As such, his task is to \u201cdefeat Satan,\u201d the chaplain noted.<\/p>\n
The reference to the seal broken on St. Patrick\u2019s Day is about judgment day, according to Manley\u2019s motion.<\/p>\n
Richardson was seen by a priest at the abbey on Aug. 26 sitting alone in a pew, Manley said. When services were finished the defendant followed the priest into a restricted area, Manley said.<\/p>\n
Richardson told the priest \u201cHe came to do the Lord\u2019s work, to separate the wheat from the weeds (or what, in biblical terminology, would be called chaff) and that he rode his pale horse from Alabama to the church,\u201d Manley said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said that it was \u2018Time to harvest,\u2019 \u201d Manley wrote.<\/p>\n
Richardson allegedly told the priest that when no one responded to his email, he came to the church, Manley said.<\/p>\n
When Richardson left the church, the priest alerted law enforcement.<\/p>\n
The priest interpreted Richardson\u2019s comments as a threat to \u201cdetermine who is just and will live, and who is condemned and will die,\u201d Manley said.<\/p>\n
Many of the biblical references, including the rider of the pale horse, come from the Book of Revelation, the final book of the New Testament, which is ostensibly about the second coming of Christ and judgment day. It has also been viewed by many as an allegorical commentary on first century Christianity and Rome, and has been seen as an impending apocalyptic prophecy by generations ever since.<\/p>\n
Investigators were able to use cellphone data to track Richardson down Aug. 28 in Santa Monica, a day after the mass shooting at a Minneapolis Roman Catholic church.<\/p>\n
When his car was searched, investigators found six 30-round, high-capacity rifle magazines, two brass knuckles, a Ka-Bar knife, dagger, sheathed sword, a stun gun, body armor, duct tape, rope, two weapon-mounted light and lasers, four walkie-talkie handled radios, tactical flashlights, medical equipment, tactical gear, a laptop and a smart phone, Manley said.<\/p>\n
Richardson also allegedly wrote a letter titled, \u201cArticles of War,\u201d Manley said.<\/p>\n
In the letter, he said he was not aiming to overthrow the government, \u201conly the corruption within it,\u201d according to Manley, who said he also wrote, \u201cAny found guilty of treason will be executed. Their sins will be washed away by the waters of liberty. Any found guilty of truly heinous crimes. Those that sought to destroy the people and to the nation. They will be purged from the land, executed by fire.\u201d<\/p>\n
Richardson allegedly told investigators he was \u201cinsulted\u201d there was no response to his email to the abbey \u201csince the church was named after him,\u201d Manley said.<\/p>\n
Richardson allegedly told the investigators that he believed the end of the world would happen before Sept. 28 or Oct. 31, Manley said.<\/p>\n
Richardson has prior arrests and convictions in Alabama for domestic violence, disorderly conduct and failing to appear in court dating back to March 2011, Manley said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A 38-year-old Alabama man facing a federal charge of interstate stalking for an alleged series of threats toward…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":209677,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164,1312,723,138,100],"class_list":["post-240989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-courts","tag-crime","tag-crime-and-public-safety","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240989"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240989\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/209677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}