Woman who mailed threatening letters to police gets 10 months

SEQUIM — A woman who sent threatening letters to the Sequim Police Department and an officer’s home, saying he would “die soon,” was sentenced in federal court Friday to 10 months of incarceration followed by three years of supervision.

Janet Ann Miller, 44, of Agnew will have about two months more to serve in the Federal Detention Center in SeaTac because of the eight months she has already spent behind bars since her arrest, Assistant U.S. Attorney Mike Lang said.

U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Zilly, during Friday’s sentencing in Seattle, expressed concern about the nature of Miller’s letters and the fear they instilled, saying, “This is a serious crime that had serious consequences,” Lang said.

But the judge refrained from ordering a more stringent sentence because of Miller’s mental illness, said Lang.

‘The Policeman’

Court records indicate she has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder with manic and psychotic features, an illness that has afflicted her for several years, including from April 2003 to February 2004 when she mailed four letters to the Sequim Police Department and one letter to Officer Chris Wright’s home, addressed to “The Policeman.”

One letter contained five single-edged razor blades stained with a red liquid and the messages, “The end is near” and “You will die soon,” according to court papers.

Another letter, mailed in April 2003, prompted the evacuation of a U.S. Postal Service mail facility in Tacoma where North Olympic Peninsula mail is sorted after employees discovered a white powdery substance near the envelope.

A test showed it did not contain biotoxins.

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