WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A Palm Beach County man is accused of threatening to kill at least two local judges, posting on Facebook that he was prepared to "go down in that blaze of glory if necessary."
John Mandia, 54, who lives west of Boca Raton, was arrested Tuesday on three counts of written threats to kill or do bodily harm.
According to a Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office probable cause affidavit, deputies on Monday said they investigated Mandia after a concerned resident contacted law enforcement regarding Mandia's social media posts.
The affidavit stated that one of the posts said the following:
"Yo, what happened to Trump happened to me first ... Yo let's go kill some judges and prosecutors and [in] Palm Beach. I'm coming and you can't do a f****** about it."
Deputies said they interviewed two people who know Mandia, both of whom expressed their concerns that he might act on the threats.
Investigators said they later learned that Mandia also made a post a few weeks earlier on Jan. 15 where he expressed a desire to kill Judge Scott Suskauer and Judge Rosemarie Scher.
The affidavit said that post on social media stated the following:
"I did 2 yrs. in prison ... My ex-wife lied, and ABUSED THE LAWS OF FLORIDA ..." "THEY THREW ME IN PRISON BECAUSE THE ALMIGHTY JUDGE WAS INSULTED I MADE THAT TEXT ... YO JUDGE ... I KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE ... YOU BETTER HAVE YOUR HEAD ON A SWIVEL BECAUSE THIS RANGER IS COMING FOR YOU!!!!!!!"
Deputies said that the threat was related to a domestic violence injunction case that was presided over by Scher.
Mandia subsequently violated a court order and was arrested, resulting in a felony conviction for aggravated stalking, which was presided over Suskauer and Assistant State Attorney Monique Wilson.
Related to Mandia's Facebook post on Jan. 15, one user replied: "Be careful my friend. You may land up back in prison for threatening a judge. People are stupid."
Investigators said Mandia then replied to the user by saying, "thanks ... but at this point I just want to shed light on this and go public..." "...I'm 54 and lived the life of an 80-year-old... so I'll go down in that blaze of glory if necessary but that f****** judge took [my] life away now that motherf***** c*** of a judge's life is mine."
The same Facebook user then replied to Mandia, saying, "I get it. I am sorry you went through this...."
Mandia then replied back in part, "I had no due process in my divorce proceedings because I was incarcerated and got divorced in jail without attending any court hearing..." and "I'm ready to die ... for this, my cause!!! Yo Judge, I'm coming and you can't hide mother f*****!!!!!!!"
Investigators said since his threatening Facebook posts were escalating, they found probable cause to arrest Mandia. The affidavit said the suspect also made a threat to take the "judge's life" and "hunt down" the judges and the prosecutor.
Mandia is being held at the main Palm Beach County jail on a $450,000 bond.