Inmate pleads guilty to mailing threats to court clerks

Wilmington, N.C. — A Nash County man has pleaded guilty to sending threatening letters to a judge and three clerks of court, authorities said Thursday.

Joseph Evelyn Wing, 23, pleaded guilty in federal court to four counts of mailing threatening communications. He also pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He will be sentenced later.

Between January and August 2008, Wing mailed letters that contained verbal threats and a powdery substance purported to be anthrax to a judge in Los Angeles and the clerks of court in Raleigh, Charlotte and Shreveport, La., authorities said. The letters were mailed from Central Prison in Raleigh and the federal correctional facility in Butner, where Wing was an inmate, authorities said.

“In today’s post 9/11 environment, these types of cases are particularly chilling and must be addressed aggressively,” U.S. Attorney George Holding said in a statement.

The weapons charge stemmed from Wing's possession of a P90 Ruger .45-caliber handgun in January 2007. He admitted he used the weapon to kill Daniel Lee Ellis, authorities said.