Memphis, TN - Daniel Puckett, age 58, of Nashville, Tennessee, pleaded guilty today to a one count indictment charging him with mailing a threatening communication to his ex-employer, announced Edward L. Stanton III, United States Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee.
“Today’s guilty plea reflects the vile nature of the threatening communication Daniel Puckett sent to his fellow co-worker," said U.S. Attorney Stanton. “The U.S. Attorney’s Office will continue to vigorously prosecute those who commit heinous acts like Puckett’s, as there is simply no room in a civilized society for this kind of hateful conduct."
According to facts revealed in the indictment and recited during the plea, Puckett was employed by Aerotech Corporation, a temporary employment service. Puckett was placed as a temporary employee at Unilever Corporation in Covington, Tennessee, but was later released by Unilever. Puckett sent a threatening communication written across the front of a Ku Klux Klan publication titled The Torch to his ex-supervisor at Unilever. The statement written on the publication read, “We have space for you and your family under a big oak tree." Inside the publication it was written that the supervisor was not a member of the “Knights" but wanted to attend the “National Klan Congress." Title 18, United States Code, Section 876 makes it a crime to mail a threatening communication.
Puckett faces a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, and a period of supervised release. Sentencing is scheduled for January 9, 2015, at 11:00 a.m. before United States District Judge Sheryl H. Lipman.
This case was investigated by the United States Postal Inspection Service and the Covington Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by First Assistant United States Attorney Lawrence Laurenzi on behalf of the government.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
