New Prague Woman Indicted for Making Threats Against Vice President, Federal Agents

An indictment has been returned in federal court in Minneapolis charging a 47-year-old New Prague woman with threatening to kill Vice President Joe Biden and several federal law enforcement officers. Kim Rolene Hutterer has been charged with one count of threats against the vice president, one count of threatening interstate communications, and two counts of mailing threatening communications.

The indictment alleges that on October 19, 2010, Hutterer mailed a letter containing threats against Vice President Biden and an agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. In addition, Hutterer allegedly mailed a similar threat to a federal law enforcement officer on March 29, 2011. Finally, the indictment alleges that on September 21, 2010, Hutterer threatened an employee of the United States Bureau of Prisons (“BOP”) during a telephone call to the BOP’s Federal Correctional Institute in Welch, West Virginia.

A law enforcement affidavit filed in the present case states that in 1991, Hutterer was arrested by an FBI agent in connection with a false bomb threat she made concerning a Northwest Airlines passenger plane. While awaiting trial in that case, Hutterer carved into the wall of her cell a threat against that FBI agent. Since that time, Hutterer purportedly has mailed and texted other threatening messages to the agent, along with making threatening telephone calls to his home and work. On October 19, 2010, Hutterer allegedly mailed an 11-page, handwritten letter addressed to the “Agent in Charge” of the FBI’s Minneapolis Field Office from the Carver County jail, where she was incarcerated at the time. The letter, along with five additional pages of drawings, contained threats to injure and kill the agent who arrested her in 1991.

Then, on September 22, 2010, Hutterer reportedly called a doctor in New Prague and left a voice-mail message that stated, “Ransom will be held for someone.” Several days later, she allegedly called the same FBI agent with whom she had previously dealt, leaving several messages about kidnapping a child. Hutterer reportedly continued to threaten that agent, even after she was released from state prison on March 25, 2011. On March 26, 2011, one of her text messages purportedly read, “try to find me before I find you to have some fun with you.” And, on March 27, 2011, Hutterer allegedly sent a series of text messages threatening damage to a federal facility.

If convicted, Hutterer faces a potential maximum penalty of 10 years in prison on each mailing threatening communications count, and five years on both threatening the vice president and threatening interstate communications. All sentences will be determined by a federal district court judge.

This case is the result of an investigation by the FBI, the BOP, the Carver County Sheriff’s Office, the LeSuer County Sheriff’s Office, the Sherburne County Sheriff’s Office, the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office, and the U.S. Secret Service. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen B. Schommer.

An indictment is a determination by a grand jury that there is probable cause to believe that offenses have been committed by a defendant. A defendant, of course, is presumed innocent until he or she pleads guilty or is proven guilty at trial.