A Swissvale man was sentenced to 80 to 160 months in prison Tuesday after pleading guilty to two separate cases in which he attacked an Allegheny County Jail guard and sent threatening letters to a judge, officials said.
Nathan Hoye, 26, was serving a 16- to 32-month sentence at the State Correctional Institute at Greene in Waynesburg when he sent up to nine letters to Allegheny County Judge Beth Lazzara between April 2016 and April 2017 that threatened her life.
Lazzara imposed the sentence that landed Hoye in prison and has also handled other cases in which he was the defendant, court records show.
The handwritten letters by Hoye included profane language that threatened to kill Lazzara and her family, according to a criminal complaint.
Investigators matched Hoye’s handwriting with the letters addressed to Lazarra, the criminal complaint said.
For the letters, Hoye was charged with eight counts of making terroristic threats, six counts of harassment, one count of stalking and one count of making threats and other improper influence in official and political matters in May 2017.
When charged, Hoye was transferred to Allegheny County Jail, according to court records.
While there, jail guards were in the process of giving Hoye a suicide gown “based on threats he made to harm himself,” said a criminal complaint. Hoye refused guards’ orders to be handcuffed and “then reached into the toilet and threw urine” on an officer, according to the complaint.
He was charged with assault by a prisoner, recklessly endangering another person and aggravated assault in January 2018.
