WILSON COUNTY, Tenn. (WTVF) — A Wilson County man is accused of sending threatening letters to multiple elected officials, including former and current state judges.
Young Road, which runs off Sparta Pike, was completely closed on Wednesday as law enforcement executed a search warrant at the man's house on suspicions there could be explosives. The road reopened just after 3 p.m.
The Wilson County Sheriff's office said Phillip Wayne Foster, 68, threatened multiple public servants and Middle Tennessee residents for several years. The letters allegedly include threats of bodily injury, death, bomb threats and threats of distribution or delivery of chemical agents.
Foster is charged with distribution of any substance as an act of terrorism or as a hoax, three counts of false report and four counts of harassment.
Wilson County Sheriff Robert Bryan says he was one of Foster's targets.
"It makes you think, somebody is threatening to do these types of things to you, it puts you on guard," said Bryan who calls Foster's actions domestic terrorism.
Bryan says Foster doesn't have a criminal history, but investigators do have evidence that shows he appeared in the courts of the judges he's accused of threatening. The Sheriff says the only interaction Foster has had with his deputies was when Foster called to complain about loose animals on his property.
"These letters are threatening to cut off body parts, even threatening with some kind of chemical on these letters that can possibly be absorbed through the skin," said Bryan who is pleased that Foster is in jail.
"It makes me feel better today that he’s not out there wreaking havoc on everybody," Bryan said.
The Wilson County Sheriff's Office, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, Tennessee Highway Patrol, United States Postal Inspectors Office, Office of the Inspector General and Federal Bureau of Investigation are all involved in the investigation.
If you have any information on the Foster's case or if you have received a threatening letter, you're urged to contact the Wilson County Sheriff's CID at 615-444-1459 or contact Crime Stoppers at 615-444-5245.
