Thursday, Sept. 11, 2008 | midnight
A 27-year-old Las Vegas man accused of sending threatening e-mails from a computer in Henderson to two former Virginia Tech students is still undergoing competency evaluations, according to his attorney.
Johnmarlo Balasta Napa faces two federal counts of transmitting the e-mails via interstate commerce, which has a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $500,000 fine. He was indicted by a federal grand jury May 22.
Henderson Police also charged Napa with acts of terrorism, and the local case was continued Sept. 4 for 90 days in Henderson Justice Court while the federal case is proceeding. Napa's attorney Michael Gowdey said no trial dates have been set.
"We're in a holding pattern here until the federal charges get resolved," Gowdey said.
He disputed the allegations against Napa.
"I'm not entirely certain the local charges have any merit," he said. "It's not necessarily clear that he threatened students in Virginia Tech either. Nobody has provided any actual evidence of e-mails or anything else that was alleged."
Brian McGinn, spokesman for the Western District of Virginia U.S. Attorney's Office, expected the psychological evaluation to take a month or two.
Officials would not release the wording of the messages sent April 15, but McGinn has previously said the recipients felt they could be harmed. The e-mails were sent from the address "[email protected]." Seung-Hui Cho was the Virginia Tech student behind the April 16, 2007, school shooting, during which he killed 32 people before committing suicide.
According to a Nevada court document, one of the alleged recipients had been stalked by Cho in 2007. The document alleges Napa sent e-mails indicating a desire to "continue the rampage" and that Napa made references to furthering the goals and ideals of Cho through violence.
Napa has no apparent connection to the campus or the former students, who maintained Virgina Tech e-mail addresses.
Three of the witnesses listed in the case have a Nevada State College address.
Dave Clark can be reached at 990-2677 or [email protected].
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