[12/17/04] JACKSON Additional federal criminal charges against a Warren County man who was once a candidate for sheriff were made public in a hearing here Thursday.

Separately, a Jones County felony weapon-possession charge against David Garland Atwood II, 21, 5920 Fisher Ferry Road, has been dropped.

Atwood, who was arrested July 2 on a charge of threatening to kill a Virginia resident, now also faces seven other charges, says an indictment returned by a federal grand jury Dec. 8.

He appeared at Thursday’s hearing with his attorney, Cynthia Speetjens of Jackson, and pleaded innocent to all eight charges.

The indictment says Atwood used “a computer connected to the Internet to knowingly persuade, induce and entice a person he believed to be under the age of 18 years to engage in sexual activity for which any person could be charged with a crime under the laws of the State of Mississippi.” The charge carries a penalty of from five to 30 years in prison and up to a $250,000 fine, U.S. Magistrate Judge James C. Sumner said during the hearing.

The other six additional charges list six credit-card accounts and numbers and accuse Atwood of using “the identity of his relatives, without the relatives’ knowledge or consent, to apply for credit cards over the Internet.” Credit-card applications passed through computer servers located in other states, the indictment says. The charges are wire fraud and each carries a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine, Sumner said during the hearing.

The indictment that was made public Thursday supersedes and includes the accusation from the one already pending against Atwood. It was that Atwood transmitted a threat in interstate commerce. It carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, Sumner said.

The indictment released Thursday repeats that Atwood is charged with transmitting “an electronic instant message communication to the victim.” According to the indictment, the message read “that little house you have is gonna be burnt to the ground and one night as you walk out to your vehicle i am gonna be waiting there with a knife and I am gonna slice you from your belly to your throat.”

A trial in the case remains set for Feb. 7 in Vicksburg.

Atwood remained in federal custody in Madison County. Sumner said that before the superseding indictment was returned he had entertained the thought of granting a request from Atwood’s family that Atwood be allowed time on “home confinement” over the holidays. A hearing on such a request would have to be requested and held, he said. Even if those things were to occur before Christmas, law relating to the enticement charge may not allow him to grant such a request, he added.

Sumner said Atwood had undergone a mental evaluation and had been found competent to stand trial and able to read and write.

Atwood’s home was searched and evidence was gathered from it the day before he was arrested on the threat charge. The FBI has investigated the charges against Atwood with the help of the Warren County Sheriff’s Department.

A Dec. 9 order from Jones County Circuit Court Judge Billy Joe Landrum says the weapon-possession charge was dismissed because the school property on which Atwood was charged with possessing weapons was not posted as required by law, and no act of violence occurred. Atwood had been arrested on the charge in 2002 and was accused of possessing a weapon on the campus of Jones Community College.

Atwood ran for constable as a 19-year-old and filed to run for sheriff last year, but withdrew the bid.

He was also charged by Warren County earlier this year with felony malicious mischief. He was accused of damaging two tractors and destroying property on Fisher Ferry Road. The Warren County District Attorney’s Office sought and obtained an indictment on that charge from the grand jury that met here in October.