Wheaton native sentenced to 15 more years

A prison inmate was sentenced to an additional 15 years on Thursday for sending threatening letters to federal judges and for lying about it in one case.

Michael Disch, 38, originally from Wheaton, was in a Georgia state prison on Jan. 5, 2007, when he wrote a federal judge in Atlanta who had sentenced him on federal felony charges. He threatened to kill the judge and included a white powdery substance in the envelope, which tested negative for dangerous chemicals, U.S. Attorney David Nahmias said.

Disch pleaded guilty on May 15 to making the threat, and two days later the judge who accepted the plea received an anonymous threatening letter from the federal detention center where Disch was incarcerated, Nahmias said.

He denied making that threat, but an FBI investigation determined that he had.

Under a plea agreement, Disch pleaded guilty Thursday before U.S. District Judge Richard Story to mailing a threatening communication to a federal judge and making false statements to federal officials, the prosecutor said.