Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 18, 1995 TAG: 9504180099
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JAN VERTEFEUILLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
A Covington woman whose ex-husband reportedly wrote her threatening letters for 15 years finally got a law enforcement agency to take notice last year, after he mailed her slashed photos of herself colored blood-red. Now he's been brought across the country to face charges and jailed without bond.
Harold Michael McTeer, 37, was arrested in California last month and brought to Roanoke to face a 12-count indictment charging him with mailing threatening letters.
McTeer was a prolific writer of letters to ex-wife Tina Walton, to whom he owes $30,000 in back child support for their two sons. Walton sometimes received up to six letters a day from McTeer, Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie Campbell said.
Although he had written to her since they divorced in 1980, the letters' tone became more hostile after Walton began pursuing back child support in 1990, Campbell said. McTeer also wrote volumes to government officials, from the president on down to Roanoke's Child Support Enforcement Division of Social Services.
``We've had many, many letters from Mr. McTeer,'' Wayne Chapman, district manager of the child support office, testified at a hearing last week.
U.S. Magistrate Glen Conrad decided last week that McTeer was a threat to the community and should remain in jail until his trial. Conrad found that McTeer, who wrote in letters that Walton was responsible for ruining his life, ``manifested irrational behavior in dealing with his ex-wife.''
On Monday, Conrad decided that McTeer should undergo a mental competency evaluation, something McTeer objected to. McTeer also has declined to cooperate with the probation officer assigned to his case.
``He does have the ability to understand the nature of the charges and to an extent assist in his defense,'' McTeer's court-appointed attorney, Peter Katt, told Conrad.
The FBI interviewed McTeer in California at one point, warning him that the U.S. attorney's office was prepared to prosecute. Afterward, an FBI agent testified, the threats increased and got angrier.
McTeer reported to the court that he has been unemployed since July 1991, when he held a $5-an-hour job. He lives with his mother and stepfather in Twentynine Palms, Calif., Campbell said.
One letter to Walton told her she better ``watch the Greyhound [Bus] schedule,'' which she took to mean that he would be coming to get her.
In the case of such comments, a threat is determined by whether the recipient perceives it as such, Campbell said. The 12 counts of the indictment represent 12 letters that Walton told the FBI intimidated her.
McTeer could be found incompetent to stand trial if he were found not to know the difference between right and wrong or if he were unable to resist the urge despite knowing.
Katt said the case may center on the question of whether the communications are ``actual threats versus philosophical letters.''
Initially, his letters to the child support enforcement office were complaints about the bureaucracy, Chapman testified, but they eventually changed to focus on Walton: ``She hadn't treated him right, had ruined his life.''
``He's referring to us as the white knight trying to save her, so I don't know when he'd transfer his frustration and feelings toward her to us,'' Chapman said when asked if he felt threatened by the letters. He said he received letters daily.
Chapman said McTeer also sent his office a photo of Walton once, part of which had been colored red and sliced up. The picture had her case number on it.
If convicted, McTeer faces up to 57 years in prison and a $3 million fine.
by CNB