Pacoima man held in alleged threat on Bush

Charles Madrid has been struggling with anger management issues for years.

The 50-year-old radio technician from Pacoima has been known to lose his temper over everything from dirty dishes in the kitchen sink to the war in Iraq.

His mother says he’s harmless. But after a recent outburst in which he allegedly threatened to kill President Bush, the U.S. Secret Service isn’t so sure.

Madrid was arrested last week and is being held in a federal detention center in downtown Los Angeles. At a hearing set for today, a judge is expected to determine whether Madrid is eligible to be released on bail.

Before his arrest Tuesday, authorities, concerned that Madrid’s threat may have been prompted by mental illness, took him to Olive View Medical Center in Sylmar for evaluation. The doctor who examined him concluded that Madrid was not mentally ill “but has a severe anger problem,” according to an affidavit by Secret Service Special Agent Kelly O’Hara.

O’Hara, who interviewed Madrid at the hospital, wrote in the affidavit that Madrid admitted to threatening to kill the president earlier in the day in front of an LAPD officer.

When O’Hara asked Madrid what he would do if Bush were present right at that moment, he allegedly responded: “I’d deck his ass.”

He added that Vice President Dick Cheney also “needs an ass kicking,” the affidavit states.

Though statistics weren’t immediately available from the Justice Department, authorities said Secret Service agents investigate far more cases of people threatening to harm the president than are actually prosecuted.

The vast majority of people accused of making threats deny having done so, retract them or express regret when confronted by agents.

In those cases, suspects are typically let off with a warning if investigators determine that they have no record of violence and no ready means to the carry out the threat. Suspects deemed mentally ill are also rarely prosecuted.

Considering these facts, Madrid’s case stands out.

“If they persist in making the threat, that’s uncommon,” said one federal prosecutor, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the case. “And that makes you anxious.”

Madrid’s attorney, deputy federal public defender Richard D. Goldman, said he understands that the Secret Service was “duty bound” to investigate his client, but that he hopes the U.S. attorney’s office will reconsider going forward with the prosecution.

“I don’t believe that these were true threats,” he said.

Madrid, who has no criminal record and no history of owning firearms, shares a small dilapidated ranch-style home with his mother, Rachel Madrid-Hall, and his adult brother. The family has lived in the house for more than 40 years. Outside, a small faded American flag is stuck in the dirt of an otherwise empty potted plant. Inside, the home is strewed with clutter, much of it related to computers, one of Madrid’s passions, according to his mother.

In an interview this week, Madrid-Hall, 71, acknowledged that her son has a temper. But she said he’s never acted on it.

“He’s not a maniac,” she said. “I think he was speaking out of frustration.”

Madrid-Hall said there has been a lot of that in her son’s life of late.

Two years ago, he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, which she believes has interfered with his thinking. His job at a local radio station was cut back from full time to part time, she said, adding to the family’s money woes. The tattered roof on their house leaked horribly during the winter’s heavy rains. The water heater broke, leaving the family without hot water for weeks until a relative stepped in to buy a new one. And Madrid’s bicycle -- his only means of transportation -- was recently stolen from the front porch.

“Sometimes life just kicks you in the teeth,” Madrid-Hall said.

She said her son blamed President Bush for the war in Iraq and the bad economy, among other things. He would write letters documenting his complaints but only grew angrier when he received form letters in response, she said.

Madrid-Hall said her son was talking to a former girlfriend late Monday or early Tuesday when he allegedly made the initial threat against Bush. The woman, identified in court papers as Wanda O’Hickey-Way, called 911.

“Committing this murder is not a murder, it’s making a difference for the people,” O’Hickey-Way quoted Madrid as saying. “I’m going to kill who needs to be killed.”

O’Hickey-Way told the dispatcher that Madrid’s statements were made in reference to the president, according to the arrest affidavit.

LAPD officers arrived at the Madrid home Tuesday morning, and one of them asked Madrid, “Do you want to kill the president?”

“Yes,” Madrid replied, according to the affidavit.

Because Bush was not in the Los Angeles area at the time and Madrid did not appear ready to carry out the threat, officers decided not to arrest him, the affidavit states.

But police returned later in the morning, this time with Secret Service agents. Madrid agreed to go with them to Olive View for the mental health evaluation, after which he was arrested and taken to the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles.

He is charged with “knowingly and willfully” threatening to take the life of the president.

At a hearing Thursday, Madrid was dressed in a Los Angeles Kings pullover. He was polite and soft-spoken as he answered questions by U.S. Magistrate Judge Margaret A. Nagle. The federal prosecutor assigned to the case that day said he would seek to have Madrid held without bail. But a hearing on that decision was put off until today at the defense attorney’s request.

Madrid-Hall said she was still reeling from the events of the last several days. She recalled staring in disbelief in her living room as Secret Service agents placed their hands on their guns as her son, dressed in pajamas, emerged from a dimly lighted hall.

“I don’t blame them,” Madrid-Hall said. “I read the papers and I watch the news. I know everyone is going berserk.”

But she said authorities are wrong if they suspect her son is really capable of harming the president.

“He is peace-loving,” she said. “He’s been my right arm all my life.”

scott.glover@latimes.com