A Mineral Springs man accused of mailing threatening letters in January 2015 to seven Arkansas mayors is going back to jail on a federal judge’s order.
Maverick Dean Bryan, 55, was released by U.S. Magistrate Judge Caroline Craven after a detention hearing March 28 in Texarkana’s downtown federal building. Assistant U.S. Attorney David Harris was so opposed to Bryan’s release that he asked for a review of Craven’s decision by U.S. District Judge Susan Hickey, who presides over cases in the Texarkana Division of the Western District of Arkansas.
Hickey granted Harris’ motion for Bryan’s pretrial detention in an order handed down May 2.
Hickey’s order states that she reviewed a transcript of the detention hearing at which Craven released Bryan on an unsecured bond and determined that Bryan should have remained in custody as the government requested.
Hickey’s order notes that Bryan, during his detention hearing, freely admitted to writing the letters to the mayors.
The letters included threats to hang the mayors of Ashdown, Hope, De Queen, Lewisville, Nashville, Prescott and Murfreesboro from “mighty oaks” on courthouse lawns if they didn’t rid local schools of the Common Core curriculum and put religion back in the classroom.
Hickey’s order also addresses Bryan’s criminal history.
“Defendant has an extensive criminal history involving the possession of firearms. In addition to his three previous convictions involving firearms, Defendant has admitted that he was impermissibly in possession of a firearm on the day of his arrest,” the order states.
“Thus, Defendant has repeatedly demonstrated his unwillingness to abide by the laws concerning the possession of firearms by a convicted felon. This pattern of disobedience poses a threat to the safety of the community and gives the court little hope that Defendant would abide by any conditions set by this court.”
Bryan also admitted at his detention hearing to being the author of an advertisement that ran twice in the Thrifty Nickel last year seeking a $23 million loan to raise a Christian army to overthrow the U.S. government.
In a search warrant affidavit unsealed April 22, Bryan’s letter is quoted as demanding that the mayors no longer honor the votes of anyone who is homosexual, Muslim, socialist, communist, atheist, or who worships any God other than Jesus Christ, and that anyone fitting those definitions be required to “exit.”
Bryan’s case is scheduled for a jury trial before Hickey later this month.
If found guilty of threatening the mayors, Bryan faces a fine of up to $250,000 and up to five years in federal prison on each of seven counts of mailing threatening communications.