Travis Ball (Jones County Sheriff's Office)
BARNESVILLE, Ga. - A Georgia man will spend more than two years in prison for threatening to kill President Joe Biden and to blow up the White House.
Officials say 56-year-old Travis Ball of Barnesville, Georgia was arrested following an investigation in multiple death threats toward local judges and law enforcement.
According to court documents, Barnes sent a series of letters using another person's name to multiple government offices and officials, including officials at the Superior Court of Jones County, Georgia, and the Jones County Sheriff’s Office.
On March 23, 2021, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia received a threatening letter from Ball containing a white powder.
That same day, agents searched Ball's home and found "he slept on a cot and spent most of his time on a laptop computer and writing letters." In the search, officials found the impression of a letter that, when shaded by a pencil, discovered it was threatening Biden and his family.
"I am a psycho killer and am going to blow up the Whitehouse (sic) and kill everyone in it," authorities say the letter read. "I'm serious and not kidding. Lock me up or all of you will die."
Authorities say the White House Mail Sorting Facility received the letter a week later and turned it over to the Secret Service.
Investigators say Ball had been previously convicted of felony hoax threats in the Northern District of Georgia in 2017 after he sent letters to the State Bar of Georgia and to newspapers in Atlanta with threats to "kill all of you" and "have some anthrax." In that case he was sentenced to two years in prison followed by three years of supervised release.
"Sending death threats and purported anthrax is not protected speech — it is a crime," said U.S. Attorney Peter D. Leary. "I applaud the investigative work by our federal and local law enforcement partners to secure justice in this case."
A judge has sentenced Ball to spend 33 months in prison followed by three years supervised release and to pay a $7,500. He is unable to receive parole in the federal system.
"The sentencing in federal court of Mr. Ball is commensurate with the wasted resources and concern generated by his hate-filled hoax anthrax letter campaign," said Keri Farley, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta. "While Mr. Ball’s criminal conduct clearly illustrates his lack of concern and compassion for others, it also illustrates an unwillingness to be rehabilitated."