FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
AUSA VICKIE E. LEDUC or
MARCIA MURPHY at 410-209-4885
DECEMBER 14, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SERIAL THREAT WRITER CONVICTED OF MAILING LETTERS
THREATENING THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES,
STATE OFFICIALS AND A PRIOR VICTIM
Greenbelt, Maryland - Today a federal jury convicted Scott Lewis Rendelman, age 52, formerly of Rockville, MD, of six counts of mailing threatening letters, announced United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein. The named victims of Rendelman’s letters include the President of the United States, as well as certain individuals who participated in Rendelman’s 2005 trial in Montgomery Court Circuit Court for Extortion by Written Threat, such as the presiding Circuit Court judge, the state prosecutor and a witness. Rendelman mailed the letters from various facilities in Maryland, while detained on the state charges.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein said, “Any threat to retaliate against a witness, judge or prosecutor is a threat to the integrity of our system of justice. Witnesses and judicial officers should be assured that they will be protected from intimidation. The jury properly held Scott Rendelman accountable for threatening the President and the prosecutor, judge and witnesses involved in his previous cases.”
According to trial testimony, in the mid-1980s, an attorney discovered that Rendelman embezzled over $200,000 from his employer, the attorney’s client. Rendelman then began writing numerous letters threatening to kill the employer and his attorney. On November 3, 2005, shortly after Rendelman was convicted in Montgomery County Circuit Court for attempting to extort money from his prior employer, Rendelman mailed a letter threatening the attorney who testified for the prosecution in the extortion case. That same day, Rendelman mailed a letter to the U.S. Marshals Service in Sacramento, California threatening to injure the President of the United States. On November 8, 2005, Rendelman mailed another letter threatening to injure and take the life of the President.
Following sentencing on the extortion charge, Rendelman mailed letters on January 12 and February 1, 2006 to the Montgomery County Circuit Court judge in Rockville who presided over the case, threatening to kill him. Also on January 12, 2006, Rendelman mailed a threatening letter to the assistant state’s attorney in Rockville who prosecuted Rendelman in the extortion case.
Rendelman faces a maximum sentence of 35 years in prison followed by three years of supervised release. U.S. District Judge Roger W. Titus has scheduled sentencing for April 21, 2008 at 9:30 a.m.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein praised the U.S. Secret Service for their investigative work. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Stacy Dawson Belf and Mythili Raman, who are prosecuting the case.