Man accused of threatening Reid, others pleads not guilty

Jace Radke

Tuesday, June 25, 2002 | 9:07 a.m.

A Las Vegas man accused of mailing letters that threatened the lives of four members of Congress, including Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., pleaded not guilty to a five-count indictment in U.S. District Court Monday.

Milton Thomas Black, 62, issued his plea to U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert Johnston and is scheduled to go to trial July 8 to face charges of mailing and faxing threatening communications from October to December of 2001.

According to a previously filed criminal complaint, Black sent a letter addressed to Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., in which he complained about being ignored by government officials.

In one letter addressed to Colorado Gov. Bill Owens there was a threat made against Reid and CNN host Larry King.

Black allegedly complained in the letter that no one would pay attention to information he had developed in the JonBenet Ramsey homicide case.

Black reportedly ended the letter by threatening to douse Reid with gasoline, just like Clint Eastwood's character did in the movie "High Plains Drifter," according to the letter.

Black remains in federal custody without bail.

In an unrelated case Monday, a Las Vegas businessman pleaded not guilty to five counts of mail fraud.

Richard Raymond Ruppert, 38, is scheduled to go to trial July 23 on charges of wire fraud.

Ruppert is named in an indictment that alleges he ran a bank investment scheme from December 1998 to April 2000. The scheme allegedly involved misrepresentations to investors that their funds would be used to buy discounted bank notes and securities.

Instead, the indictment alleges, Ruppert converted nearly all of the funds for his own use, costing the victims more than $500,000.