The CIA has been helping out in an investigation into a bizarre intimidation tactic used against federal judges in which someone orders pizzas sent to their homes, the head of the U.S. Marshals Service said.
Gadyaces S. Serralta, who became the Marshals Service director over the summer, told The Washington Times’ “The Sitdown With Alex Swoyer” video series that his agency has an expansive “open investigation” that includes “many other three-letter agencies.”
“We’ve gotten assistance from the FBI, CIA, you name the agency; this has been put on their radar,” Mr. Serralta said.
“We’ve been able to expand our investigative leads tremendously, and we’re very satisfied with the progress,” he said.
The pizza tactic has drawn attention in recent days as some federal judges go public with complaints about a rise in threats.
The way pizza doxing works, hoax deliveries lure public officials to their homes’ front doors for possible attacks.
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U.S. District Judge Esther Salas, whose 20-year-old son was killed and her husband wounded in 2020 in an attack at her home by a disgruntled lawyer, said she wants the Trump administration to focus more on toning down rhetoric against judges.
In remarks at a legal conference hosted by Law.com, she said vitriol has served as a “dog whistle” to direct anger at judges.
“When you don’t see the attorney general of the United States, when you don’t see the deputy attorney general of the United States, stand at a podium and say, ‘We are investigating these pizza doxings, and when we find who is doing this, we will prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law.’ … To me, that silence says a lot,” Judge Salas said, according to Law.com.
Mr. Serralta said in the interview that threats have been “on the rise for the last four or five years.”
“We have more avenues to say stupid things, and that is what folks do,” he said. “They think that they can hide behind a handle or a TikTok name or however they want to disguise their actual name, but know this: The United States Marshals Service is going to come after you if you make a threat to one of our judges, and we will not stop until we put you in prison.”
He said some threats are veiled, and others are more explicit, such as when someone details a “method and the means” to carry it out.
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“The advice I have is: Be mad, but don’t send any threats,” he said.
One of the most prominent cases emerged in 2022, when Nicholas Roske, angry over an impending decision on abortion rights, traveled from California to Maryland and showed up at 1 a.m. one day at the home of Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh with a pistol, ammunition, a knife, lock picks, duct tape and pepper spray.
Roske, who now goes by Sophie, was sentenced to about eight years in prison. The judge said Roske had turned away from the plot at the last moment, called police to report the plan and no longer posed a threat.
“It certainly, to me, is a light sentence,” Mr. Serralta said. “I would have liked to see more, but having been a cop for 35 years, that is probably where I would be on most prosecutions.”
The Marshals Service has been enlisted as part of President Trump’s surge of federal forces to combat crime in the District of Columbia and in Memphis, Tennessee.
Mr. Serralta said the success has been undeniable, with a 60% drop in homicides and a 70% drop in carjackings in the District.
He said the turnaround is a result of basic police work.
“I can guarantee you when a jurisdiction is soft on crime and when a police department is handcuffed, for lack of a better word, if they are held back, usually, the violence spikes,” he said.
He said the deployment of the National Guard was crucial to the success. The troops provided enhanced patrols, freeing up officers to swoop in and make arrests.
“It’s been very effective to have them around,” he said.
Mr. Serralta praised his fellow federal law enforcement colleagues at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, who he said are professionals trying to enforce the law.
“They’re not doing anything wrong; they’re doing their job,” he said. “Perhaps their messaging has fallen short.
“Politicians, the media, the guy on the street — the activist — they are pushing their agenda and their narrative, and we are not very quick to rebut their assessment, and that, I think, hurts us in the end.”
He said his agency and ICE have teamed up in places such as Florida to pursue fugitives who are also illegal immigrants.
“You are talking brutal, violent individuals, so just as we help the immigration detail, they help us. So, as they are hitting these houses, they are finding fugitives for us. So, yes, one hand is washing the other,” he said.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.
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