LAS VEGAS, Nev. – A federal grand jury returned an indictment charging Latonia Smith, 25, of Las Vegas, with five counts of sending threatening communications through the U.S. Mail, U.S. Attorney Nicholas A. Trutanich for the District of Nevada announced.

According to court filings, Smith is alleged to have sent anonymous threatening letters between September 30, 2018, and October 1, 2019 to her mother’s former supervisor and to attorneys and staff defending a lawsuit filed against her mother’s former employer. As an example, one of the letters threatened: “your throat will be slit you will be recorded as the blood spills from your neck and just as you gasp to take your final undeserving breath three bullets will be placed right through your skull.”

Smith was arrested on November 1, 2019, in connection with the charges and is presently detained awaiting arraignment.

This case was the product of an investigation by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service with assistance from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department and the Reno Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Steven Myhre.

Smith faces a maximum sentence of 25 years, if convicted on all counts. Any sentence, however, would be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.

An indictment is an accusation by a federal grand jury and is not evidence of guilt. The defendant should be presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

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