TEXARKANA -- A Mineral Springs man who mailed letters to seven Arkansas mayors threatening to hang them if certain demands went unmet pleaded guilty Wednesday in a Texarkana federal court.
Maverick Dean Bryan, 56, pleaded guilty to seven counts of mailing threatening communications, according to David Harris, an assistant U.S. attorney. In return, Bryan will receive a 12- to 18-month federal prison sentence and the government agreed to dismiss a single count of felon in possession of a firearm at sentencing, Harris said.
"I never meant no man no harm," Bryan told U.S. District Judge Susan Hickey. "I'm just an old trucker, a mountain man, equipment operator. That's all I am, ma'am. I made a grave mistake, your honor."
Handwritten letters postmarked Jan. 5, 2015, and mailed to the mayors of Hope, Nashville, De Queen, Ashdown, Lewisville, Prescott and Murfreesboro promised to hang the community leaders from trees on the courthouse lawn if they didn't put prayer and the Ten Commandments back in school and eliminate the Common Core curriculum.
Bryan admitted last year during testimony at a detention hearing to writing the letters, to being the author of an advertisement that ran twice in 2015 in the Thrifty Nickel, and to seeking a $23 million loan to raise a Christian army to overthrow the U.S. government.
In a search warrant affidavit, Bryan's letter was quoted as demanding the mayors no longer honor the votes of anyone who is homosexual, Muslim, socialist, communist or atheist, or who worships any god other than Jesus Christ, and that anyone fitting those definitions be required to "exit."
Bryan remains in federal custody. He will return to court for formal sentencing once a pre-sentence report, including a recommendation for punishment under federal guidelines, is received by the court in about three months.
State Desk on 01/29/2017