LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — A Las Vegas woman has been convicted in a second federal case after threatening two judges and her probation officer.
The story of Latonia Smith begins back in 2017. That's when her mother was fired from her job as a guest room attendant at Planet Hollywood after she allegedly took a small amount of money from a guest's room.
Between Sept. 30, 2018 and Oct. 1, 2019, Smith sent anonymous letters to her mother's former supervisor and attorneys and staff that represented Planet Hollywood in a subsequent lawsuit.
One of the letters threatened "your throat will be slit you will be recorded as the blood spills from your neck and just as you gasp to take your final undeserving breath three bullets will be placed right through your skull."
Smith was arrested on Nov. 1, 2019 and charged with five counts of sending threatening communications through the U.S. Mail. She was convicted in April 2021 and U.S. District Judge Richard Boulware sentenced Smith to 36 months in prison.
When Smith was released from federal prison, she was sent to Washoe County to face charges after she allegedly broke into the home of another lawyer that was involved in the Planet Hollywood case. The alleged armed home invasion happened in Reno on Oct. 31, 2019.
Smith was granted bail in June 2022 and once she returned to Las Vegas, prosecutors allege she starting looking for information about Judge Boulware, his wife, Las Vegas City Councilwoman Nancy Brune, and their family. She also looked for information about Judge Jennifer Dorsey, who presided over Smith's supervised release.
Investigators state Smith also Googled online videos showing cell phone videos from the 1 October mass shooting, threatened mass casualty events, and emailed her probation officer "Some good advice: Life is short, society should be careful who they piss off." When looking at her Google history, investigators found that she had also looked up phrases like "judges die", "how to become a bomb maker", and "how to be a mass shooter."
Several people testified they believed Smith was capable of violently acting on her threats and knew where they were, both in and out of the courtroom. At one point, Smith emailed Dorsey saying "Tell Jennifer, Henderson is nice I see why she chose that area. Lots of shops nearby. Smart." At trial, Dorsey said it scared her so much that she immediately sold her home and moved.
U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro reported Smith's threats to U.S. Marshals, who then contacted the FBI.
"I emailed the chief of probation; anybody I could get a hold of to prevent a tragedy," Navarro said in a statement. "I didn't want to die. I didn't want my family to die. I didn't want my coworkers to die."
Smith was interviewed by FBI agents on June 27, 2022 and arrested the same day. She has been in federal custody ever since.
On Monday, a federal jury convicted Smith on three counts of cyberstalking, which carries up to five years in prison for each count. A sentencing date has not been scheduled, as of Tuesday morning.
