VAN NUYS : Man Gets Probation on Threats to Judges
A 76-year-old former bodybuilder from Van Nuys was sentenced Tuesday to five years probation for writing letters in which he threatened to kill four Van Nuys Superior Court judges.
Rex Ravelle, who won a bodybuilding championship in 1952, had faced a maximum sentence of five years in prison. Instead, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Roosevelt Dorn suspended a two-year, eight-month prison term and placed Ravelle on probation.
Ravelle was convicted Feb. 1 on two counts of attempted extortion and one count of threatening a public official. Last July, after becoming upset over the way Judge Stephen D. Petersen had handled his civil case, Ravelle sent Petersen a letter with a newspaper article that mentioned the killing of judges.
Ravelle said it was never meant as a threat, but simply as a way to vent his anger.
He had also sent a letter last July to state Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren in which he threatened to kill three other judges who had handled civil cases involving Ravelle unless Lungren investigated his complaints.
Ravelle said a friend mistakenly mailed the letter, which Ravelle said he never intended to mail.
Deputy Dist. Atty. Sally Lipscomb said she hopes “that this kind of sentence will be enough to keep Mr. Ravelle from threatening anyone in the future.”
Ravelle could not be reached for comment.
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