Man pleads guilty in death threats case; Valdosta court targeted

Terry Richards, The Valdosta Daily Times, Ga.
·2 min read

Jan. 19—VALDOSTA — A Barnesville man accused of sending death threats to officials in Valdosta and other cities pleaded guilty to mailing threatening communications, the justice department said Friday.

Travis Leroy Ball, 56, pleaded guilty to one count of mailing threatening communications, a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice said. Ball faces a maximum of five years in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release and a maximum $250,000 fine.

According to court documents, the FBI obtained a letter on March 10 addressed to U.S. District Court Judge Marc T. Treadwell in Macon in which the writer claimed to be a Secret Service agent. In the letter — later determined to be written by Ball — the writer demanded that the charge in Ball's most recent federal case be dismissed and he be let out of custody, the justice department said.

Ball — using the name of a former cellmate — also wrote letters to the U.S. District Court in Valdosta and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in Washington, D.C., in March and May 2023 respectively, threatening to kill employees and their families as well as burn down property, the statement said.

He also wrote a letter to the Upson County Sheriff's Office in July 2023, claiming to be an FBI agent working on a top-secret case and demanded that his photos and personal information be deleted from jail records, the justice department said.

The FBI compared the letters, handwriting, letterhead, postage stamps, verbiage and the "INMATE MAIL" stamp on each letter and determined that Ball wrote the letters while in custody. His DNA was compared ag

ainst evidence on the letters sent to Valdosta and the letter impersonating a U.S. Secret Service agent sent to Treadwell; the results confirmed Ball's DNA on both letters, the statement said. Officers found the writing material and stamps in Ball's cell.

"Death threats against public officials are taken extremely seriously by our office and will result in prison time," said U.S. Attorney Peter D. Leary.

Terry Richards is the senior reporter for The Valdosta Daily Times.