Merced County prison inmate indicted for threatening to kill prosecutor’s family

An inmate at a Merced County prison has been indicted for allegedly threatening to kill a prosecutor’s family, according to the Department of Justice.

Stanislav Yelizarov, 35, an inmate at the United States Penitentiary, Atwater, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Fresno on Thursday, charging him with threatening the family of a federal official, according to U.S. Attorney Eric Grant.

Authorities said Yelizarov was undergoing further proceedings in the District of Maryland and the Fourth Circuit, after having been previously convicted in the District of Maryland, according to court documents. An Assistant U.S. Attorney in the District of Maryland was the prosecutor in those cases.

Yelizarov is accused of communicating a threat against the Assistant U.S. Attorney that he intended to kill the prosecutor’s “whole family” while using a recorded prison telephone line on March 23, 2024. Officials said Yelizarov had previously sent the prosecutor threatening letters.

If he is convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Any sentence would be determined at the discretion of the court and any applicable statutory factors and sentencing guidelines would be taken under consideration.

Authorities said the Federal Bureau of Prisons and the Federal Bureau of Investigation along were involved in with investigating the case along with the U.S Marshals Service. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Veneman-Hughes and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California received assistance from U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the Eastern District of Virginia and for the District of Maryland.