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Suspect in threat to judge tried to plead guilty
A 45-year-old Indianapolis man who reportedly made threatening phone calls to a Putnam County judge and his staff appeared ready to plead guilty and accept his fate Wednesday afternoon before another judge intervened.
Charged with intimidation, a Level 5 felony that could result in as many as six years in prison, Patrick S. Zaborski made his initial appearance before Superior Court Judge Denny Bridges.
Zaborski allegedly made threatening statements by phone to Putnam Circuit Court Judge Matt Headley and members of his staff on March 3 and 4, reportedly promising harm to the judge.
The defendant, having listened to Judge Bridges read the routine court dialogue that accompanies an initial hearing, blurted out that he wanted to plead guilty.
"You may not want to plead guilty today, sir," Judge Bridges cautioned. "This charge has a sentencing range of 1-6 years in the DOC."
After a couple moments of silence, Zaborski said quietly, "I have cancer."
"I'm sorry, to hear that," Bridges responded.
The judge then entered a not-guilty plea on Zaborski's behalf, naming Austin Malayer as his court-appointed attorney.
The case came to light after two of Headley's staff members had taken threatening calls, prompting Headley to called the number back on March 4.
The judge told Indiana State Police investigators that the man who answered kept repeating himself and speaking menacingly.
Trooper James Crisp learned that the number belonged to Zaborski and asked if Headley had ever dealt with the man.
The judge said he had and advised that Zaborski had a history of substance abuse but no serious criminal history.
Crisp reported that when he reached Zaborski by phone, the man admitted making the calls, saying he was intoxicated at the time.
Zaborski said had been angry that the judge had sent him to drug rehab but advised the trooper he had no intention of acting on his threats.
Intimidation is normally a Class A misdemeanor, but is enhanced to a Level 5 misdemeanor in this case because the threats were made against a judge.
And also because of that, Zaborski's bond was set at $20,000 cash.
He was returned to Putnam County Jail to await an 11 a.m. pretrial conference on May 11.
The reported Zaborski threats were the second of two recent incidents targeting Headley.
The earlier case was more of a close call as the accused man, 25-year-old Joshua Akins, was actually in the courtroom in the March 7 incident. Akins allegedly threatened the judge and began to move toward him before Cloverdale Police Sgt. Charlie Hallam intervened.
Akins also faces a Level 5 felony intimidation charge, as well as a Class A misdemeanor charge of resisting law enforcement.
He is also being held on $20,000 cash-only bond and had Malayer as his legal counsel in a March 9 hearing.
Akins' pretrial conference is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. May 4.