A suburban Chicago man was sentenced on July 29 to six months in federal prison for sending threatening letters to federal judges in Texas and Florida. James LeBuhn, 66, of Libertyville, Illinois, mailed the letters last year to U.S. District Court judges in Amarillo, Texas, and Fort Pierce, Florida.
The letters stated: “THE CITIZENS DO NOT LIKE WHAT YOU ARE DOING TO OUR DEMOCRACY. THEY KNOW WHO YOU ARE.” The message included photographs of two ammunition rounds and the words: “BE CAREFUL. THE LEVEL OF ANGER IS RISING.” According to authorities, LeBuhn mailed the letters with the intent of making a true threat and knowing they would be viewed as such.
In March 2026, LeBuhn was charged by criminal information with two counts of sending threatening communications to federal judges in violation of federal law. He also sent similarly threatening letters to employees at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management in Washington, D.C.
LeBuhn pleaded guilty earlier this year in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois to two counts of mailing a threatening communication. On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Sara L. Ellis sentenced him to six months in prison and fined him $5,000.
The sentence was announced by Andrew S. Boutros, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. The case was investigated by multiple agencies, including the U.S. Marshals Service and U.S. Secret Service.
“Judges are empowered and entrusted to make difficult and controversial decisions on cases and controversies before them,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard M. Rothblatt argued in the government’s sentencing memorandum. “The public may vehemently disagree with those decisions, and there are myriad ways for individuals to communicate such disagreement under the First Amendment. True threats of violence, and the fear and disruption they cause, have consequences and will not be tolerated.”