A California man has been arrested and charged with sending death threats to a judge in the Nolan Wells case.
Joseph Alfredo Vasquez Dumarce is accused of sending threatening messages to Jackson County Judge Ashlee Cole. Dumarce is charged with interstate transmission of a threatening communication, which is a federal crime.
He faces up to 5 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000, according to The Sun Herald.
Dumarce, 27, was arrested Thursday for threatening Judge Cole, the mother of one of Nolan’s friends, Warren.
Nolan, 18, was reported missing a day after he celebrated the 4th of July with friends on Horn Island, just off the coast of Mississippi. His body was found in shallow water near Horn Island on July 6.
Warren and Nolan’s friends told law enforcement they thought he caught another boat back to the mainland on July 4.
Judge Cole said Warren fully cooperated with authorities after Nolan went missing.
“Warren was interviewed by the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department and cooperated fully,” she wrote. “He last saw Nolan around 3 p.m. on July 4.”
Judge Cole said she graduated from high school with Nolan’s mother, Christine Wells-Wonsley.
“We are from the same community,” Cole said. “I have the utmost respect for her and all of the Wells family. We mourn the loss of Nolan with them.”
Cole denied rumors that she and her husband were on Horn Island that day. She said no one in her family tried “to impede the investigation by law enforcement or to otherwise hamper the family and law enforcement’s quest for answers.”
The judge said she deleted her Facebook account so people wouldn’t have access to her family’s photos.
“My husband and I have six children, and we covet their privacy,” she wrote. “We do not believe it is appropriate for our minor children’s photographs to be circulated throughout the Internet, presenting potential threats to their safety.”