Man faces charges of threat against Daschle

By Tim Velder and Denise Ross, Journal Staff Writers | Thursday, March 20, 2003

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SPEARFISH — A 58-year-old Sundance, Wyo., man faces a felony charge after he allegedly threatened the life of Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D.

Raymond Douglas Howard is free on a $5,000 cash bond and has an arraignment set for Tuesday, March 25.

On March 8, Spearfish Police Department officers responded to an anonymous 8:30 a.m. 911 phone call in which a male voice stated, "We're going to kill Senator Daschle today," according to documents filed in the case.

Dispatchers traced the call to a pay phone near a Spearfish restaurant, and police tracked footprints in the snow to the Safeway parking lot across the street, according to the court file at the Lawrence County Courthouse in Deadwood.

Daschle made a scheduled 1 p.m. appearance in Spearfish on March 8 and he later visited a trade show in Belle Fourche.

Howard faces one felony count of threatening a constitutional officer, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $5,000 fine. Also, he is charged with misdemeanor counts of making a threatening phone call and of disorderly conduct.

Spearfish police informed the FBI, Secret Service and the Capitol Police of Howard's alleged threat. However, federal prosecutors are declining to prosecute Howard at this time, Supervisory Assistant U.S Attorney Bob Mandel of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Rapid City said.

Daschle's office declined to comment on the case.

Daschle, who has been Senate majority leader and is now Senate minority leader, has acknowledged in past interviews that he receives numerous threats but he has declined to provide details. For the past several years, Daschle has traveled with Capitol Police agents when he visits South Dakota.

Police apparently had little trouble tracking down Howard after his alleged phone call.

Officer Darin Pedneau went to the scene of the alleged call and found one set of boot prints in the snow. The prints led to the Spearfish Safeway parking lot and to a white Buick registered to Howard, according to court files.

Pedneau followed the boot prints to the Safeway store and inquired about Howard. Safeway managers told Pedneau that Howard worked as a stocker there and had just returned from a break.

Pedneau questioned Howard and determined that the boot prints matched the boots that Howard was wearing.

Howard denied both using the pay phone at all and making any threatening calls. But he said he did start walking to the restaurant to buy a newspaper, then turned around before reaching the restaurant because he realized he already had the publication.

In his report, Pedneau said the footprints, which went to the pay phone, did not back up Howard's explanation.

Police arrested and jailed Howard after the interview.

The police took photos of the footprints, car and Howard and took Howard's boots as evidence.

Contact Tim Velder at 642-8822 or tim.velder@rapidcityjournal.com and Denise Ross at 394-8438 or denise.ross@rapidcityjournal.com