A Nashville man pleaded guilty in federal court Monday to mailing his former supervisor a threatening message scrawled across a Ku Klux Klan publication.
Daniel Puckett, 58, will be sentenced to the crime in January. He faces five years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and supervision upon release.
Puckett was employed by Aerotech Corp., a temporary employment service, which placed him at Unilever Corp. in Covington, about 40 miles north of Memphis.
Unilever released Puckett and he responded by mailing his former supervisor a copy of “The Torch,” a Ku Klux Klan publication, with the following message written on the front: “We have space for you and your family under a big oak tree.”
Inside the publication, Puckett wrote that the the supervisor was not a member of the “Knights” but wanted to attend the “National Klan Congress,” according to the Department of Justice.
“Today’s guilty plea reflects the vile nature of the threatening communication Daniel Puckett sent to his fellow co-worker,” said U.S. Attorney Edward L. Stanton. “The U.S. Attorney’s Office will continue to vigorously prosecute those who commit heinous acts like Puckett’s, as there is simply no room in a civilized society for this kind of hateful conduct.”
