Nevada Man Sentenced to 75 Months for Threatening to Kill Federal Judges

A man sentenced to federal prison for threatening to blow up a U.S. Air Force base in Nevada in 2010 didn’t learn his lesson.

Charles James Schuett was out of prison for only short time last June when, in the heart of Las Vegas, he claimed he had planted explosives in the Lloyd D. George U.S. Courthouse, and would kill two federal judges. Schuett confessed to that crime and was sentenced earlier this week to serve another 75 months in federal prison.

His threat to kill the federal judges emptied the courthouse for a security sweep. Even though no bombs or explosives were found, Schuett’s antigovernment threats got him charged again.

Court documents disclose that Schuett made the threats after he walked into the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field office. After identifying the federal judges he intended to kill, ICE officials detained Schuett and called Las Vegas police.

“I am threatening to blow up two federal judges,” court documents quote Schuett as telling a Las Vegas police detective.

Schuett identified the judges by name and said calmly, “I placed two bombs in their courtrooms which will explode at noon tomorrow.” Court documents identify the federal judges only by their initials, R.H. and J.M.

“I want to blow up (judge R.H.) because he sent me to prison (and judge J.M.) turned down my court case,” Schuett told the detective. “If I get out of County Jail, I will shoot a federal judge. I’ll go after [R.H.] first.”

Although he officially doesn’t call himself an antigovernment "sovereign citizen," Schuett’s antigovernment venom and pro-se filing of dozens of court documents and letters –many of them deemed frivolous – make him look like one.

He pleaded guilty to the latest charges last December, then tried to withdraw that plea in a flurry of legal filings – none of which were deemed valid. In one week from his jail cell last March, Schuett filed five motions along with a batch of letters to the judge handling his case. He asked that his sentencing be postponed; he asked for a review of his medical issues; he asked for reconsider of his motion to withdraw his guilty plea; he asked for a change of judge due “to a conflict of interest.” The motions were all denied.

He was sentenced Tuesday to 75 months in prison to be followed by three years of supervision by federal parole officers.

Schuett was indicted in 2010 for one count of threatening to kill or cause damage by explosive in a case investigation by an FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force. In May of that year, he was sentenced to 42 months in prison.

In that case, Schuett was arrested on March 5, 2010, after he drove to the main gate at Nellis Air Force Base, in southern Nevada, where 12,000 military personnel and support staff are stationed.

When a guard asked Schuett the nature of the visit, he said he wanted to see the base’s Office of Special Investigations (OSI), then added: “I’m here to blow up the base.”