A former Orange County resident who was charged last year with threatening to kill a sitting judge but remained at large has been taken into custody, an FBI spokeswoman said on Wednesday, Feb. 29.
Byrom Zuniga Sanchez, a 32-year-old who once lived in Laguna Niguel, faces a felony charge of threat by interstate/foreign communication, according to a criminal complaint filed in October in Los Angeles federal court.
He was arrested Monday night, Feb. 26, attempting to enter the country at the southern border, said Laura Eimiller, a spokeswoman for the FBI.
Since May 16, Sanchez sent communications threatening to kill an Orange County Superior Court judge who presided over a family court matter involving him from 2019 to 2021, a FBI special agent wrote in an affidavit filed with the complaint last year. He also threatened to kill or harm others, including judges, attorneys and law enforcement, the FBI agent wrote.
In July, the defendant sent an email to the judge, saying, “I am more committed to murdering you than I am to being present as a father,” the affidavit states. “Do you have any last words, apologies, or regrets you want to communicate before I lawfully kill you(?)”
Sanchez is the subject of multiple domestic-violence protective orders, pending arrest warrants and a workplace violence order, the affidavit states.
He has multiple warrants in Orange County for state criminal offenses, including evading police/reckless driving, invasion of privacy, violation of a court order, and criminal threats, the agent wrote.
The affidavit says Sanchez lacks legal status in the United States and is subject to deportation.
Source: Orange County Register
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