Man threatened aide to Speier, prosecutors say
DA’s office says man has ‘lengthy history’ of making criminal threats
REDWOOD CITY » A 52-yearold Manteca man who allegedly vowed to carve the “liberal bleeding heart” from one of Rep. Jackie Speier’s staff members pleaded not guilty this week to ma king felony threats and other criminal charges, prosecutors said. Ronald Joseph Lafaye called Speier’s San Mateo office in December and spoke with a male aide about an issue he had with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, said District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe. Apparently unhappy with the response he received, Lafaye then allegedly left a dozen bizarre voicemails at the office in March.
Lafaye, who lefthis name and phone number, threatened to hurt a female staffer in one message, noting that he had been taught to “torture women,” Wagstaffe said. In another, he allegedly said female staffers should “sell their bodies and send the money to him.”
Wagstaffe said while Lafaye berated Speier’s staffers as “worthless” and “incompetent,” he did not appear to harbor any hatred for the congresswoman.
“He said he was not antiJackie Speier because he prayed for her when he was in junior high,” said Wagstaffe, adding that Lafaye mentioned her shooting in 1978, when she and then-Rep. Leo Ryan went to investigate the Jonestown cult in South America.
Authorities arrested Lafaye at a Days Inn in Oregon and extradited him to San Mateo County to stand trial on two felony charges — making threats and threatening a government employee — and one misdemeanor charge — making annoying phone calls, Wagstaffe said. He entered his plea in Superior Court on Monday.
The Private Defender Program will represent Lafaye, who remains in custody on $150,000 bail. He is slated to next appear in court on April 20 for a preliminary hearing.