A federal fugitive who made hoax bomb threats, claiming that letter bombs were going to be delivered to residences in Rocklin and Auburn, has been sentenced to three years and five months in prison.
Stephen J. Isoczky Jr., 60, of Los Angeles was sentenced today in federal court in Sacramento by U.S. District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller for making bomb threats and lying to federal agents, according to a federal Department of Justice news release. He will be subject to three years of supervised release following his time in prison. Judge Mueller also ordered Isoczky to pay $6,890 in restitution to the United States Postal Inspection Service for the resources spent in dealing with the bomb threats.
According to court documents, on Sept. 2, 2012, Isoczky contacted the national telephone network of the U.S. Postal Inspection service, claiming to be a concerned citizen alerting authorities of impending letter bombs. He claimed the bombs were going to be delivered shortly to a residence in Rocklin.
On Nov. 1, 2012, Isoczky again call the Postal Inspection Service, this time claiming that a letter bomb was sent to an Auburn residence.
The Postal Inspection Service and other law enforcement personnel spent more than 200 hours X-raying and manually screening all mail going to the target zip codes and the specific addresses, authorities said.
After Isoczky's second bomb threat, law enforcement officers traced his call to a pay telephone in Tracy, near a motel where he was staying, according to court records. When Isoczky was contacted, he repeatedly lied to officers about his involvement and provided false information about not knowing of the intended victims.
At the time he made the false letter bomb threats, Isoczky 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.
The case resulted from an investigation by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, with the cooperation of the Modesto and Tracy police departments.
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