A federal prison inmate in Colorado has been convicted of threatening to harm or kill guards and their families.
Theron Maxton, 59, was convicted by a federal jury in Denver last week on four counts of threatening to assault and murder correctional officers and their families, according to a U.S. Department of Justice news release on Monday.
Maxton was an inmate at the Florence Correctional Complex in November of 2012 when he “threatened to assault or murder prison correctional officers, and in some cases, their families, in retaliation of the officers performing their official duties,” prosecutors said.
The threats were made in letters to correctional officers directly. In one instance, Maxton tried to persuade a former cellmate of his to carry out the violence. In December 2012, Maxton directly told an FBI special agent “that if given the opportunity he would try to kill prison staff members,” the release said.
Following a three-day trial, the jury deliberated for about three hours Thursday before handing down the guilty verdicts.
He is scheduled to be sentenced on May 1 by U.S. District Judge Philip A. Brimmer.
Maxton faces not more than 10 years, and up to a $250,000 fine, per count, for each of the four counts.
The case was investigated by the FBI and prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Kieran Nicholson: 303-954-1822, knicholson@denverpost.com or
