Arizona man goes to prison for threatening Utah Mormons

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ST. GEORGE — A 72-year-old Arizona man has been sentenced to more than a year in federal prison after a jury found him guilty of threatening members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Utah.

U.S. District Judge Jennifer G. Zipps sentenced Richard Corrie Beals of Tucson, Arizona, to 13 months and one day in prison and fined him $5,000.

Beals was convicted of two counts of transmitting a communication containing a threat to kidnap or injure, according to court documents.

The evidence presented at trial proved that Beals sent multiple threatening and harassing communications over an extended length of time to various federal officials and private citizens in Salt Lake City, said prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of Arizona, Tucson.

Further evidence also demonstrated  the threats were directed at members of the LDS church.

Beals will be on supervised probation for three years after he is released from prison. During that time, he is ordered to have no contact with the victims and to stay away from any LDS facilities, including churches and temples.

The investigation in this case was conducted by the Salt Lake City Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

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Twitter: @tracie_sullivan

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2017, all rights reserved.

 

 

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3 Comments

  • Real Life September 18, 2017 at 10:39 pm

    “Beals is ordered to stay away from any LDS facilities”. Well that pretty much rules out anywhere here in St George. You can’t flick a booger without hitting an LDS facility.

  • utahdiablo September 20, 2017 at 10:02 am

    Yet the illegal act of Polygamy goes on unchecked in nearby communities here in southern Utah? …..You only want to enforce the laws you wish to enforce

    • makkie September 21, 2017 at 2:14 pm

      Kind of like illegal immigration goes unchecked in utah…any problems with that utahdiablo?

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