Catoosa Man Arrested For Threatening To 'Destroy A Mail Carrier'

A Catoosa man is in jail accused of threatening to blow up a letter carrier.

Detectives said this is not the first time this man has been in trouble with the law.

News On 6 has learned the same man, James Pinkerton, was a suspect in a case last year when a fake bomb was placed in a mailbox.

This time, police said, he threatened to put a shotgun shell in one to kill a mail carrier.

The trailer at lot 16 is where James Pinkerton lives, the suspect in an extortion and bomb threat case.

The neighbors said over a decade, he rarely came out, except to visit his mailbox.

“When he walks to the mailbox, he's dressed in all black and it looks like he's [in] the wrong era,” said neighbor Christie Charpentier. 

Catoosa Police said Pinkerton was identified by the Postal Inspector and FBI as the man behind a threatening email.

“They had ran down the email address and the PayPal account because he had asked for money not to do it,” said Catoosa Police Detective Courtney Bates. 

The emailed threat attributed to Pinkerton said, "A 12 gauge device will be placed in a mailbox to destroy a mail carrier."

It demanded a $5,000 transfer to PayPal, or "A mail carrier will be erased."

“Well I don't think he really had the knowledge or the ability to do what he said he was going to do, but he had the want to,” Bates said. 

Catoosa Police said Pinkerton was the suspect in a case last year when a fake bomb was found in his neighbors' mailbox.
    
“It's kind of scary, me and my husband kind of wanted to move,” Charpentier said. “Cause we were like so scared, because, there's a bomb in our mailbox, that's just weird.”

Police said a search of Pinkerton's home turned up a couple of functioning guns and several old west style replicas incapable of firing.

Pinkerton remains in the Rogers County Jail.

He's facing charges for making threats, demanding money, and threatening to use an explosive.