May 25, 2013
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) - An inmate at a Virginia state prison pleaded guilty Thursday to mailing a threatening letter to former Kentucky Gov. Paul Patton.
Aaron L. Rivers, 34, who once lived in central Kentucky, faces sentencing in U.S. District Court in Lexington on Jan. 8. Rivers pleaded guilty to one count of mailing a threatening communication.
Prosecutors said Rivers, while an inmate at Wallens Ridge State Prison in Big Stone Gap, Va., mailed Patton a letter on Nov. 5, 2003. Inside the letter was a handwritten note saying: "ANTHRAX Die American Official."
Patton, who left office in December 2003, was unharmed by the mailing.
Rivers was indicted in 2004, but has undergone at least two psychiatric evaluations related to the charges.
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