Arizona man indicted for sending threats, packages with poison to Indiana couple

PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) -- An Arizona man has been indicted after investigators say he spent years harassing an Indiana couple, including sending packages with poison and calling them over 400 times.

Patrick Daniel Kearney, 40, of Saddlebrook, was rejected romantically by a woman when they attended college together in the early 2000s. When she graduated, she never saw Kearney again. However, in Sept. 2019, Kearney started sending her letters and packages in the mail, telling her that “she should have died during the Sept. 11, 2011, terrorist attacks, that she should eat poison, and that she should go to hell,” according to investigators. He also repeatedly called her and left many voicemails on her cell phone.

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When Kearney found out that the woman was engaged after finding her wedding website, he started harassing the woman’s husband as well. Investigators say between Oct. 2019 and Sept. 2022, Kearney called the two 404 times, left at least 155 voicemails, and sent them packages full of insect poison and pornography. On Oct. 12, he arrived in federal court in Arizona and was sent to the Southern District of Indiana. He then appeared in that court on Nov. 17 and was put in custody of the U.S. Marshals Service on Wednesday.

If he is convicted, he will have a maximum penalty of five years in prison on the first three counts, a maximum penalty of up to two years imprisonment on each of the counts for through nine, a fine of up to $250,000, and up to three years of supervised release on any prison term. Officials say Kearney is a registered sex offender after being convicted of child porn in Illinois.