State prison inmate accused of making 2nd threat against Westmoreland judge
Share this post:
A state prison inmate serving a two- to four-year prison term for threatening to kill Westmoreland County Judge Christopher Feliciani in 2018 was charged Monday with threatening him again.
Rebecca Elizabeth Gardner, 29, directed the threat at Feliciani in a letter mailed from SCI Muncy, where she is serving her sentence for the prior threat, county detectives said in court papers. She is charged with retaliation against a judicial official and making terroristic threats.
Det. James Williams said in court documents that Feliciani received a hand-written letter from Gardner Dec. 18 containing her name and return address at SCI Muncy in Lycoming County.
Williams noted in the complaint that when Judge Meagan Bilik-DeFazio sentenced Gardner almost a year ago on Dec. 27, the judge stipulated Gardner “was to have no contact with Judge Feliciani.”
Williams said that Gardner was going to be considered for potential parole in several weeks “and the letter is again threatening and promising extreme harm to Judge Feliciani.”
The letter was signed “Gardner,” Williams said in court documents.
In the initial May 15, 2018, case, Gardner wrote Feliciani that she would use a knife to kill him and then use gasoline to start a fire at his home.
Gardner signed that letter “Sincerely your killer” with her name, according to an affidavit.
In March 2018, Feliciani sentenced her on two simple assault charges to two to four years in a state prison, according to court records. The judge ordered she have a mental health evaluation.
Feliciani recused himself from handling her cases any further after he was threatened in 2018.
Gardner has not been arraigned on the new complaints and a preliminary hearing has not been scheduled.