Baltimore County Man Sentenced to 8 Years in Prison for Threatening to Murder an ATF Task Force Officer

Baltimore, Maryland — U.S. District Judge William D. Quarles sentenced Craig Allen Shepperd, age 38, of Whitehall, Maryland, today to eight years in prison followed by three years of supervised release for threatening to murder a federal law enforcement officer.

The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Debbie D. Bullock of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives – Baltimore Field Division; Chief James W. Johnson of the Baltimore County Police Department; Chief John J. Hohman of the Baltimore County Fire Department; and Baltimore County State’s Attorney Scott Shellenberger.

According to Shepperd’s plea agreement, the Baltimore County Police Department and ATF identified Shepperd as a primary suspect in the arson of a horse barn that had burned down at 2808 Shepperd Road in Monkton, Maryland on August 26, 2010.

On March 8, 2011, a Baltimore County detective and an ATF Task Force officer (TFO) went to the Baltimore County Detention Center where Shepperd had been detained to serve a state indictment on Shepperd, charging him with arson. Shepperd became very agitated and stated that he was a marksman and a very good hunter. Shepperd said that he would shoot the TFO in the head, and that when he got out of jail, he would meet the TFO at a restaurant and neither of them would come out alive. Shepperd held his hand up imitating a pistol, pointed directly at the TFO and motioned as if pulling a trigger. Shepperd also stated that he was going to create a scene and when the TFO responded, Shepperd would be waiting in the woods to shoot the TFO in the head.

The TFO identified himself as a Federal Task Officer and Shepperd stated that he already knew that. The TFO had been appointed as a Special Deputy U.S. Marshal and Task Force Officer with ATF since 2009.

Investigators also obtained recordings of conversations Shepperd had with an individual and his father in which Shepperd repeats and confirms his threats to murder the TFO.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein praised the ATF, Baltimore County Police Department, Baltimore County Fire Department and the Baltimore County State’s Attorney’s Office for their work in this investigation and prosecution. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant United States Attorney A. David Copperthite, who prosecuted the case.