Inmate Sentenced for Mailing Threats, Powder to Federal Officials

CINCINNATI – Rodney D. Cydrus, 48, formerly of Chillicothe, was sentenced in U.S. District Court to 36 months in federal prison for mailing threatening letters to federal officials. Cydrus was an inmate at Lebanon Correctional Institution at the time of the offense.

Benjamin C. Glassman, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, Angela L. Byers, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cincinnati Division, and Yvonne DiCristoforo, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Secret Service, announced the sentence imposed today by U.S. District Judge Michael R. Barrett.

According to court documents, on five separate occasions in January 2017, Cydrus mailed letters threatening to injure numerous government officials, including the President of the United States, federal judges, the FBI and the Federal Public Defender’s Office. Four of the letters were addressed to the FBI and one letter was addressed to the Federal Public Defender’s Office.

For example, one letter to the FBI states “You are one dead motherfucker…As soon as I get out I’m going to get everybody I can in your office…Die Die Die…I promise my word I’ll get at least 30 of you before you kill me.” Cydrus further stated he wanted to “go out with a bang” by killing or kidnapping a federal agent.

As part of the threats, Cydrus included a powdered substance (namely his own medication) in the at least one letter.

“Cydrus caused a HAZMAT team to respond twice, requiring the employees who opened the letters to be quarantined,” U.S. Attorney Glassman said. “The federal officials whom Cydrus targeted have hard enough jobs as it is. Disrupting operations and creating an atmosphere of fear is a serious offense, and it’s important to deter this kind of intimidation campaign.”

Cydrus was indicted by a federal grand jury in February 2017 and pleaded guilty on January 18 to one count of mailing threatening communications.

U.S. Attorney Glassman commended the investigation of this case by the FBI and U.S. Secret Service, as well as Assistant United States Attorney Timothy S. Mangan, who represented the United States in the case.