Man with ‘lengthy history’ of death threats to officials pleads guilty in Macon court
A man who has a “lengthy history” of threatening arson and killings will be serving five years in federal prison after pleading guilty to mailing threatening communications earlier in the year, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Georgia said in a news release.
Travis Leroy Ball admitted to writing a letter to Judge Marc Treadwell pretending to be a Secret Service agent who investigated a previous case, according to prosecutors. In the letter, purporting to be an agent, he demanded that Ball be released from custody and for his case to be dismissed. The FBI obtained that letter March 10, 2023.
Ball also wrote letters to the federal court in Valdosta and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in Washington, D.C., in March and May last year. In those letters, he threatened to kill employees and their family members, as well as burn down property, the news release said. He also wrote a letter to the Upson County Sheriff’s Office in July assuming the role of an FBI agent working a top-secret case that demanded the sheriff’s office to delete and remove Ball’s pictures and personal information from jail records.
After he serves five years in prison, Travis Leroy Ball will also have three years of supervised release, Judge C. Ashley Royal ruled Wednesday. Ball is not eligible for parole, the U.S. attorney’s office said.
The FBI determined the letters came from Ball while in custody after analyzing the letters, handwriting, letterhead, postage stamps, verbiage and even a stamp indicating the mail came from an inmate, the news release said. His DNA was found on the letters as well. Corrections officers also found writing material and stamps in Ball’s cell.
“Threats against public servants are not only illegal, but also a threat against our democratic process,” said Robert Gibbs, supervisory senior resident agent in charge of FBI Atlanta’s Macon office. “While Mr. Ball’s continued criminal conduct clearly illustrates his lack of concern and compassion for others, it also illustrates his unwillingness to be rehabilitated. Hopefully, this additional sentence will finally send the message that the FBI will not tolerate his hate-fueled hoaxes and will continue to hold him accountable.”
Ball pleaded guilty to threatening to blow up the White House and kill President Joe Biden toward the end of 2022 and was serving two years and nine months prior to his new case.
He previously sent “a series of letters” to federal authorities in Jones County and the federal courthouse in downtown Macon that contained a white, powdery substance – It prompted a search of his house, in which investigators found the letter directed to the White House, claiming he was a “psycho killer.”
