Fayetteville, Arkansas – The United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, Jonathan D. Ross, announced earlier this week that Joshua Matthew Goodin, a 40-year-old resident of Jackson, Mississippi, has pleaded guilty to serious charges of threatening federal officials. Goodin entered his guilty plea on Monday, July 1, 2024, before United States Magistrate Judge Christy D. Comstock. He admitted to one count of threatening to assault and murder a United States judge and one count of threatening to assault and murder a federal law enforcement officer.
Details of the Threats
The investigation into Goodin revealed that while he was an inmate at the Washington County Detention Facility in Fayetteville, Arkansas, he sent two threatening letters to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Jackson, Mississippi, around July 5, 2022. In one of the letters, Goodin wrote, “I swear I’m going to kill you all, I’m gonna blow your f****** office up. …Your (sic) gonna die I promise nothing or no one will stop me.”
In a second letter, Goodin further threatened, “I’m Joshua Goodin I was recently in Federal Court on a gun charge. The b**** ass d.a. (name redacted), he talked real bad about me. For that he will pay with his life, him and the judge don’t understand who I really am.”
Legal Proceedings and Penalties
Goodin was formally indicted on July 25, 2023. United States District Judge Stephen R. Bough of the Western District of Missouri will sentence Goodin at a later date. The crimes of threatening a federal official carry severe penalties, including up to 10 years imprisonment, up to three years of supervised release, and fines up to $250,000.
The case against Goodin was thoroughly investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the U.S. Marshals Service. Their efforts uncovered the details of Goodin’s threats and ensured that he was brought to justice.
