Erie amateur radio operator faces more charges of airing bomb, other threats (Pennsylvania)

An Erie man accused of using an emergency radio frequency to broadcast threats against people and property and to air bogus weather and other emergencies in 2021 and earlier this year was given two big breaks during recent court appearances.

Richard L. Wagner, 61, had faced 37 criminal charges, including multiple counts of bomb threats, in two criminal cases that Erie County detectives filed against him in October and February. But prosecutors dropped all but two charges — one first-degree misdemeanor count of terroristic threats in each case — at Wagner’s preliminary hearing on March 3. Wagner waived those two charges to court.

The second break came on March 22, when Erie County Judge David Ridge agreed to change the $250,000 bond holding Wagner in the Erie County Prison in the second case to a $25,000 unsecured bond. Ridge placed conditions on the bond, however, including a prohibition against the misuse of any communications device and the removal of Wagner’s radio equipment from his home.

Wagner could lose both of those deals after county detectives accused him of airing, earlier this week, a series of new threats over emergency airwaves.

Read more – Yahoo! News: https://www.yahoo.com/news/erie-amateur-radio-operator-faces-015011186.html