Monday, November 3, 2014
YOUNGSTOWN — A U.S. magistrate has ordered a Burghill man to remain detained without bond until his trial on a federal charge of extortion with threat of death via the U.S. mail against Atty. David Betras.
U.S. Magistrate George J. Limbert today also bound the case over to a federal grand jury.
Limbert ordered that Charles J. Reighard, 67, of state Route 7, remained locked up on the charge that Reighard mailed three threatening letters to Betras between Sept. 4 and Oct. 20.
Betras is Mahoning County Democratic Party chairman and Reighard’s former lawyer.
“My big concern is that this could have been a graduated issue,” with Reighard possibly eventually producing a functioning pipe bomb, Limbert said.
“I find he is a danger to the community,” Limbert said of Reighard, who appeared in court in the orange uniform of the Northeast Ohio Correctional Center, where he is being held.
“This defendant may be likely to make good on the threats,” Justin Seabury Gould, the assistant U.S. attorney prosecuting the case, told the magistrate.
For the complete story, read Tuesday's Vindicator and Vindy.com