E-mailed threats lead to jail time

A Huntington Beach man was sentenced to more than nine months in jail Monday after he pleaded guilty to threatening to kill an Orange County supervisor earlier this year.

Steve Van Arroyo, 51, was sentenced to 284 days in jail, three years of formal probation and ordered to complete a mental health program through the courts Monday as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors for threatening to “incinerate” Orange County Supervisor John Moorlach in January.

Arroyo, who was convicted of making threatening phone calls in 1999 and was sentenced to three years probation, was ordered into the county’s Whatever It Takes Court, or WIT Court, a voluntary program for nonviolent offenders diagnosed with a chronic, persistent mental illness like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or major depressive disorder.

The recently enacted program was created and is supervised by Santa Ana court Judge Wendy Lindley.

“I’m glad it’s over. I’m glad that Judge Lindley handled this in a professional manner. I hope Mr. Arroyo never surfaces again,” Moorlach said. “This is the fairest thing that could happen.”

On Jan. 25, staff members of county Supervisor John Moorlach received a call from a man calling himself “Dusty” asking for Moorlach’s e-mail address. Over that weekend in January, Arroyo sent an e-mail to Moorlach threatening to have him and his family “incinerated” and saying he was going to “kill dead all five supervisors.”

The WIT Court is funded through Proposition 63, the Mental Health Services Act, which receives money through an income tax on people who earn more than $1 million a year. The WIT Court program involves frequent court appearances, regular drug and alcohol screening and meetings with mental health experts.

“I think a good thing about this disposition is that she placed him in a program for special needs and problems, where he wouldn’t be one of hundreds,” said Rick Francis, Moorlach’s deputy chief of staff.

Less than 100 people are enrolled in WIT Court, prosecutors said.