Woman charged in e-mailed threat

February 14, 2017 at 12:05a.m.

CLEVELAND

A former Canfield woman who now resides in Mount Airy, Md., faces a federal felony charge of making an interstate threat after being accused of threatening to injure a former Mill Creek MetroParks executive director with a .38-caliber gun.

Amy Beitzel, 53, who has pleaded innocent, is free on a $50,000 unsecured bond pending resolution of her case.

A federal grand jury indictment issued Nov. 16, 2016, said Beitzel transmitted the threatening email to Dennis Miller from Rockville, Md., to Youngstown on July 12, 2014, through a server in Sunnyvale, Calif.

The email followed the controversial June 26, 2014, roundup and euthanasia of 238 geese in Mill Creek Park, which Miller approved as a goose-population and nuisance-control measure without a park board resolution.

Miller resigned from his $87,500-a-year job as park system director, effective at the end of 2014.

Beitzel’s trial was set for April 3, 2017, with a final pretrial hearing at 10 a.m. March 27.

However, U.S. District Court Judge Patricia A. Gaughan granted a defense request to declare the case complex and postpone the trial beyond Speedy Trial Act time guidelines.

Beitzel’s lawyer, Daniel W. Taylor of Cleveland, requested the case be declared complex because it “involves voluminous discovery materials, including reports, computer data, and email transmissions” and may involve consulting a forensic computer expert and because trial preparation is complicated by Beitzel’s residing in Maryland.

As conditions of her bond, Beitzel must undergo a mental health evaluation or counseling as directed by the court’s pretrial services department, take all medications as prescribed and avoid contact with Miller or any potential witness in the case.

The case was investigated by the FBI and is being prosecuted by Justin Seabury Gould and Ranya Elzein, assistant U.S. attorneys.

Miller could not be reached for comment.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said the threat was sent to Miller’s work email address, but declined to disclose the full contents of the email.