A man who allegedly sent letters with “threatening language” to three Montgomery County schools last month has been indicted on charges related to the letters, according to the principal of Winston Churchill High School in Potomac.
Churchill and Potomac Elementary, both public schools, and the private McLean School in Potomac received identical letters on March 7, Churchill Principal Joan Benz wrote in a message sent to the school community on Monday. She did not detail the content of the letters, but said they included “threatening language against the schools.”
The man facing charges in connection to the letters is a 51-year-old resident of Temple Hills in Prince George’s County who has the single name Yahweh, Officer Rick Goodale, a Montgomery County police spokesman, said early Monday evening.
According to court records, Yahweh was arrested March 16 and charged with three counts of disturbing the operations of a school. He was held without bail. On April 19, he was indicted in Montgomery County Circuit Court in Rockville on the three charges as well as a charge of attempted threat of mass violence.
Benz wrote the schools had responded quickly, reporting the letters to police, and that police determined the schools “did not need to engage in emergency procedures.”
“We are sharing this information with you now, as we anticipate the criminal proceedings may draw attention and wanted to be sure you had a clear understanding of the situation and how it has been addressed,” she wrote. She said police asked school administrators not to publicize the incident earlier to “prevent prejudicing the investigation.”
Goodale said it was “quite possible that when Churchill reported the initial incident that detectives requested that they not immediately notify the community so they could conduct their investigation.”
Benz noted that the letters Yahweh allegedly sent were delivered by the U.S. Postal Service and were addressed to each school and included a return address with the name of the sender.
Police and the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office did not immediately have further information available Monday.
Yahweh is set to have a scheduling hearing Friday in Circuit Court.
