Speedway man charged with threatening judge, attorney

A Speedway man accused of posting online death threats against a judge, an attorney and others has been charged in federal court, according to a statement from the office of Joe Hogsett, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Indiana.

Delenore L. McTarsney, 53, is charged with two counts of transmitting a threat through interstate communications for posting threats in rants made in the comment section in response to a YouTube video.

Charges unsealed Tuesday accuse McTarsney of making the threats last year and early this year that he would injure or kill people he believed conspired against him in a politically motivated prosecution during the tenure of former Indianapolis Mayor Steven Goldsmith.

McTarsney was specifically charged for making death threats against Southern District Bankruptcy Judge Robyn Moberly, formerly a Marion Superior judge, and Indianapolis attorney Mark Small, according to the charging information.

McTarsney was arrested at his home Saturday. An FBI agent who questioned McTarsney at his home asked him if he knew why he was being questioned, to which McTarsney responded, “probably about my rantings on the Internet,” according to the charging affidavit.

McTarsney faces two counts of violating Title 18 of U.S.C. Section 875(c), since the comments posted online were received by YouTube owner Google Inc., based in California. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sharon M. Jackson, who is prosecuting the case, said McTarsney faces up to five years in prison if he is convicted, as well as fines and a federally-supervised release at the end of his prison term.

“We in the law enforcement community are committed to doing all within our power to ensure the safety of all those who work in or around our criminal justice system,” Hogsett said in the statement. “Due to the very real threat posed by violence and terrorism, the U.S. Attorney’s Office takes seriously all threats – whether they are made online or offline.”