Federal Inmate Pleads Guilty to Threatening Federal Court Employee in Massachusetts

BOSTON - A federal inmate pleaded guilty today in federal court in Boston to sending several threatening letters to an employee at the John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse.

Devin James Melycher, 33, pleaded guilty to three counts of mailing threatening communications. U.S. District Court Judge Myong J. Joun scheduled sentencing for Sept. 22, 2026. Melycher was indicted by a federal grand jury in May 2024.

Melycher is a federal inmate who, since 2023, has been in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons. It is alleged that on three separate occasions: Dec. 16, 2022; Jan. 3, 2023; and Jan. 12, 2023, Melycher sent letters addressed to a U.S. official at the John Joseph Moakley U.S. Courthouse in Boston threatening to injure the victim employee.

The charges of using of mailing threatening communications each provide for a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.

United States Attorney Leah B Foley and Dennis Matulewicz, Acting U.S. Marshal for the District of Massachusetts made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney's Luke A. Goldworm and Suzanne Sullivan Jacobus of the Major Crimes Unit are prosecuting the case.