Illinois man admits mailing threats to 4 metro Atlanta schools

By David Ibata

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A 29-year-old Illinois man pleaded guilty Friday to mailing threats to schools in the metro Atlanta area, federal prosecutors said.

Valtrez Stewart, of Oak Lawn in suburban Chicago, admitted mailing threats – made up of collages of newspaper and magazine clippings of words and numbers – to at least four local schools between Jan. 28 and Feb. 2, 2011.

The threats were sent to Marietta High School, Meadowcreek High School in Norcross, Northview High School in Johns Creek and Stephenson Middle School in Stone Mountain. The messages warned of bombings and killings if money was not paid by a certain date.

Investigators determined that Stewart had made the threats in hopes of implicating people he personally disliked, prosecutors said.

A federal grand jury indicted Stewart in July. He appeared Friday in U.S. District Court in Atlanta and pleaded guilty to four counts of mailing threatening communications.

When sentenced March 28, Stewart could get up to 20 years in prison and be fined up to $250,000, prosecutors said.