A former employee of the Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Middletown, Rhode Island, faced charges in the U.S. District Court in Providence for allegedly making threats through interstate communications. Acting United States Attorney Sara Miron Bloom announced these charges against 38-year-old Luis Sanchez Pardella from Newport.
The unsealed criminal complaint alleges that between July 2022 and February 2023, Pardella made multiple threatening phone calls to at least eight former colleagues. In one voicemail, he allegedly stated, “I will kill you and your wife when I see you on the street.”
It is also alleged that between December 2022 and February 2023, Pardella called the Portsmouth, RI, Police Department multiple times, making threats such as saying an officer and his wife “will be going to jail,” accusing the department of corruption, and stating grievous threats towards an officer’s wife.
Pardella appeared before a U.S. Magistrate Judge and was released under GPS monitoring, with orders not to contact any of the victims.
A federal criminal complaint is an accusation, and the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul F. Daly, Jr., aided by Assistant U.S. Attorney Denise M. Barton, is prosecuting the case. The FBI led the investigation, supported by the Portsmouth Police Department, Middletown Police Department, Newport Police Department, Providence Police Department, and the Federal Air Marshal Service.
