Maycomb County criminal sends hundreds of threatening emails to federal magistrate – The Oakland Press

A Maycomb County representative with a long list of police contacts is behind bars after he was accused of threatening to kill a federal judge, according to court records unsealed Thursday.

James Nelson Holloway, 33, of Warren, made his initial appearance Thursday afternoon before Magistrate Judge Elizabeth A. Stafford in U.S. District Court in Detroit. A judge ordered Holloway held pending a detention hearing at 1 p.m. Monday.

Holloway is accused of threatening the life of an unnamed federal judge earlier this week after the judge authorized a search warrant for an investigation involving members of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force.

He was charged with threatening to injure a federal judge and making interstate communications of a threat. If convicted, he could be sentenced to 10 years or more in federal prison. The alleged target of the threats has not been named, and there are at least seven judges in the Eastern District of Michigan, which includes federal courts in Detroit, Ann Arbor, Flint and Bay City.

Court filings did not list an attorney available for comment for Holloway.

According to the 23-page statement, the investigation began in September after FBI agents received information that he may have violated federal firearms laws. Reporting that Holloway bought $2,000 worth of tactical gear on Amazon, including scopes, a tactical vest, night vision optics, a knife holster, a GoPro camera and knee and elbow pads.

The items were sent to a Staples store in Brighton. But because Holloway was convicted of carrying a concealed weapon after the 2019 incident, he was not allowed to possess a firearm.

In the 2019 incident, which occurred in the 14700 block of Hannebauer Lane in Sterling Heights, Holloway’s mother called 911 and said her son chased her out of the home with a gun and then barricaded himself inside.

James Holloway is accused of purchasing military equipment similar to the one in this ad on Amazon. (PHOTO — US ATTORNEY’S OFFICE)

“She also stated that Holloway was mentally unstable and fired a gun in the backyard of the family home,” the FBI special agent wrote in the complaint.

Holloway was eventually convicted of carrying a concealed weapon, domestic violence and negligent use of a firearm in the 2019 incident. He was sentenced to 330 days in the Maycomb County Jail with credit for 610 days, according to Maycomb County District Court records.

In the latest investigation, federal agents say they reviewed Holloway’s recent Amazon purchases. They learned he also bought a $999 thermal imaging scope, optical gun mounts, wound coagulant and a tactical pouch, according to court documents.

Agents say they tracked down Holloway’s car in a Livonia parking lot later that day and questioned him. He was holding what appeared to be a tactical vest and parked next to a white truck trailer registered to Holloway, according to the government.

Holloway picked up the items from the Brighton Staples store on September 27. Investigators reviewed surveillance footage and said they saw Holloway with items in a shopping cart, the lawsuit alleges.

“During the conversation, law enforcement asked Holloway if he knew that certain convicted felons could not legally possess firearms, and Holloway stated that this was ‘not the law’ and ‘untrue,'” the complaint states. He said it was his right to own a firearm under “higher law,” the FBI agent wrote in court documents.

A few days later, around midnight on October 1, a man wearing black tactical gear, a hood, mask and gloves appeared at the front door of Holloway’s parents’ home in Sterling Heights. The person covered the camera lens of the doorbell with chewing gum, rang the doorbell and called “Mr. Holloway”.

The man appeared to be wearing a GoPro camera and a holster, two items Holloway ordered from Amazon.

Investigators said an object “that appears to be swinging or moving in a manner similar to a long gun” was hanging from the man’s right. Holloway’s parents told them that “the person in the video looks and sounds like Holloway.”

A check of the license plate reader database showed Holloway’s vehicle was in Sterling Heights from 11 p.m. the day before until 1 a.m. on Oct. 1, according to the complaint. Investigators said that matched the time a visitor rang the doorbell of Holloway’s parents. ‘ home

FBI agents discovered that Holloway had no fixed abode and the address on his driver’s license was listed as the Warren Hotel. He is also known to have stayed at two hotels in Warren, they added.

On Friday, investigators conducted a federal search of one of the hotels, his car and trailer. They also searched Holloway and seized firearm accessories matching the tip, tactical gear, cell phones, computers and digital storage devices,” the complaint states. However, they did not find a firearm.

FBI agents left copies of the search warrants and related documents with Halloway. The search warrants were signed by two federal judges, including the lawyer the government says Holloway targeted. The unsealed complaint refers to the magistrate as “Magistrate A.”

The FBI learned Tuesday that two email accounts sent more than 400 emails to the U.S. attorney’s office in Detroit and a second state account within days of the FBI searches.

One of the threatening letters read: “Yes. I’m going to kill (Magistrate A) in court.”

Agents say Holloway was connected to both email addresses. According to court documents, he used one of the addresses to open a PayPal account earlier this year and used a second address to send an email last weekend that identified Holloway as the sender.