Man Pleads Guilty to Felony Extortion, Violating Protective Order, Destroying Property While Harassing Neighbor
NORFOLK, Va. — Julian Mark Saich, 62, was convicted on Tuesday of felony extortion as well as violating a protective order and destroying property after he pleaded guilty to those charges from when he harassed his neighbor earlier this year.
On the evening of Feb. 8, Mr. Saich texted his neighbor threatening that, if the neighbor did not quell his dog’s barking, he would “slit its throat.” Mr. Saich followed up that text with a photo showing Mr. Saich’s two firearms — one an AK-style rifle and the other a handgun — as well as his large hunting knife. After receiving those text messages, the neighbor came to Mr. Saich’s door to try to speak to him. Mr. Saich answered the door holding his AK-style rifle, racked it in front of the neighbor as threat, and had his other handgun visible in his waistband. After that brief confrontation, the neighbor called Norfolk Police and spoke with the responding officers. Later that same night, after officers had come and gone, Mr. Saich texted the neighbor again threatening to “bury him” and “split his skull” because he had called the police, prompting the neighbor to take out an emergency protective order against Mr. Saich.
On Feb. 12, while still subject to the protective order and while the neighbor was not home, Mr. Saich came onto the neighbor’s property and slashed a tire on the neighbor’s vehicle. When the neighbor returned home later that evening, he saw the damaged tire, watched his doorbell security footage, saw that Mr. Saich had slashed the tire, and called the police again. This time, officers arrested Mr. Saich and transported him to the Norfolk City Jail, where he served about nine days in custody.
Mr. Saich entered an agreement on Tuesday to plead guilty as charged to felony extortion, misdemeanor violation a protective order, and misdemeanor destruction of property. The plea agreement called for Mr. Saich to serve a day in jail plus a total suspended sentence of seven years conditioned upon Mr. Saich’s completion of uniform good behavior for three years and compliance under a two-year protective order barring him from further contact with his neighbor. Judge Michelle J. Atkins accepted Mr. Saich’s plea agreement and sentenced him per the agreement.
“Mr. Saich threatened to kill his neighbor’s dog and to hurt or kill his neighbor, and he had the guns to back up his threats. When his neighbor called the police – as he should have – Mr. Saich tried to intimidate him by destroying his property and threatening him some more,” said Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi. “While nobody got hurt, this is a dangerous and frightening situation, one in which Mr. Saich’s felony conviction will prohibit him from possessing guns. Thank you to Mr. Saich’s neighbor for alerting the police so that we could address Mr. Saich’s threat to the neighbor and the community.”
Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney J. Drew Fairbanks negotiated Mr. Saich’s plea agreement on behalf of the Commonwealth.
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