Death threat reduced to criminal threat
A man accused of phoning in death threats to San Diego Pride workers in 2019 has pleaded guilty to making a criminal threat to a Gay man.
Andre Lafayette Holmes, 33, was sentenced May 3 to 16 months in prison and the judge ordered it run concurrent with his earlier 70-month sentence for unrelated bank robberies.
Holmes was to have faced a preliminary hearing on charges of threatening to “shoot up the Pride event” in his words in calls to the Pride offices, but his attorney and the prosecutor resolved the case without it.
San Diego Superior Court Judge Peter Deddeh dismissed the death threat charge after Holmes pleaded guilty to making a criminal threat to a Gay man who was not affiliated with Pride.
Deputy District Attorney Leonard Trinh said Holmes knew the other man was Gay and was someone he knew personally. Holmes previously worked for Pride in security before he ever made any threats.
Holmes appeared on video from a room at the Victorville medium security federal prison where he is serving the 70-month bank robbery term.
Holmes will be released from prison on July 4, 2024, according to the federal Bureau of Prisons website.
It was the telephoned death threats to Pride offices that resulted in his 2019 arrest by San Diego Police in a traffic stop near Miramar College. His cell phone was found in the 2009 Toyota minivan from which he made the calls.
When police searched his residence, they found a large bag of cash, a semi-automatic pistol with 30 rounds, and a rubber “old man” mask which he used in the bank robberies.
During his Aug. 17, 2020, sentencing before U.S. District Court Judge Larry Burns, Holmes told the judge he was “extremely remorseful for what I did” and planned to “better himself” while in prison.
