A federal fugitive who had claimed that bombs were sent to residences in Rocklin and Auburn has pleaded guilty to making hoax bomb threats.
Stephen J. Isoczky Jr., 60, of Los Angeles pleaded guilty today in federal court in Sacramento to two counts of making bomb threats and a single count of lying to federal agents, according to a Department of Justice news release.
According to court documents, on Sept. 2, Isoczky contacted the national telephone network of the United States Postal Inspection Service claiming to be a concerned citizen alerting authorities to impending letter bombs. Isoczky claimed the bombs were going to be delivered shortly to a residence in Rocklin.
He also admitted that on Nov. 1, he again contacted the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, again claiming to be a concerned citizen and claiming that a letter bomb was sent to a residence in Auburn.
The Postal Inspection Service and other law enforcement personnel spent more than 200 extra work hours monitoring -- including X-ray and manual screening -- all U.S. Mail going to the target ZIP codes and the specific addresses, officials said.
After Isoczky's second bomb threat, law enforcement officers traced his call to a pay telephone in Tracy. They later located a nearby motel in which Isoczky was staying. When they contacted him Nov. 1, he repeatedly lied to officers about his involvement and provided them with false information, saying he did not know and had never heard of the intended victims, officials said.
At the time Isoczky made the false letter bomb threats, he was a federal fugitive. In 2005, he was convicted of federal counterfeiting offenses, according to the news release. After serving his sentence, he was released in June 2008, but he had failed to contact his assigned probation officer since July 7, 2008.
Isoczky is to be sentenced Feb. 6 by U.S. District Court Judge Kimberly J. Mueller.
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