Greenbelt, Maryland - U.S. District Judge Roger W. Titus sentenced Scott Lewis Rendelman, age 52, formerly of Washington, D.C., to 15 years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, after Rendelman was convicted in December 2007, of six counts of mailing threatening letters, announced United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein. The named victims of Rendelman’s letters include the President of the United States, as well as certain individuals who participated in Rendelman’s 2005 trial in Montgomery Court Circuit Court for Extortion by Written Threat, such as the presiding Circuit Court judge, the state prosecutor and a witness. Rendelman mailed the letters from various facilities in Maryland, while detained on the state charges. Judge Titus enhanced Rendelman’s sentence based on his finding that Rendelman’s continued threats, sending two additional letters even after his December conviction, constitute extreme conduct.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein said, “Any threat to retaliate against a witness, judge or prosecutor is a threat to the integrity of our system of justice. Witnesses and judicial officers should be assured that they will be protected from intimidation. This sentence holds Scott Rendelman accountable for threatening the President and the prosecutor, judge and witnesses involved in his previous cases.”

According to trial testimony, in the mid-1980s, an attorney discovered that Rendelman embezzled over $200,000 from his employer, the attorney’s client. Rendelman then began writing numerous letters threatening to kill the employer and his attorney, letters which led to his continued incarceration until 2001. On November 3, 2005, shortly after Rendelman was convicted in Montgomery County Circuit Court for attempting to extort money from his prior employer, Rendelman mailed a letter threatening the attorney who testified for the prosecution in the extortion case. That same day, Rendelman mailed a letter to the U.S. Marshals Service in Sacramento, California threatening to injure the President of the United States. On November 8, 2005, Rendelman mailed another letter threatening to injure and take the life of the President.

Following sentencing on the extortion charge, Rendelman mailed letters on January 12 and February 1, 2006 to the Montgomery County Circuit Court judge in Rockville who presided over the case, threatening to kill him. Also on January 12, 2006, Rendelman mailed a threatening letter to the assistant state’s attorney in Rockville who prosecuted Rendelman in the extortion case.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein praised the U.S. Secret Service for their investigative work. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Stacy Dawson Belf and Mythili Raman, who are prosecuting the case.