Missouri Man Sentenced to 25 Years in Federal Prison for Threatening a Federal Judge and a Federal Law Enforcement Officer

LITTLE ROCK-Michael Buck, a multi-convicted felon, will spend the next 300 months in federal prison for threatening a federal judge, a federal law enforcement officer and their families. Jonathan D. Ross, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, announced the sentence, which was handed down yesterday by Chief United States District Judge Kristine G. Baker.

On February 4, 2025, Buck, 53, of Glenallen, Missouri, was indicted by a federal grand jury in a five-count Second Superseding Indictment for threatening a federal judge, threatening family of a federal judge, threatening a federal law enforcement officer, threatening family of a federal law enforcement officer, and false statements to a federal law enforcement officer. On April 29, 2025, Buck pleaded guilty to the five counts in the Second Superseding Indictment. Chief Judge Baker also sentenced Buck to three years' supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system.

In March 2025, a special agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated Buck, who was then an inmate in the Federal Correctional Institution in Forrest City, Arkansas, for making various threats and statements about his intent to kill numerous people upon his pending release from prison. In a surreptitious recording at the federal correctional institution, Buck can be heard making numerous violent threats against the federal judge who sentenced Buck in his 2008 commercial sex trafficking case in the Western District of Missouri. Buck also threatened to kill the former federal prosecutor who had prosecuted Buck's case, and also family members of both the judge and the former federal prosecutor.

The recording then captures Buck admitting that he has used a contraband prison phone to locate his victims and that he has already called one of them to verify his information and that he hung up the call once he could hear their voice on the call.

Buck has a significant violent criminal history and had served nearly 17 years in prison and was due to be released soon from federal prison. As his release date neared, he continued to make threats and tell people he was going to kill the judge, the prosecutor, their families, and the victims from his previous case in 2008 in the Western District of Missouri where he was convicted of trafficking into involuntary servitude and coerced commercial sex trafficking. Buck's criminal history includes convictions for second-degree burglary, assault, simple assault, domestic violence, resisting arrest and creating a substantial risk of injury/death to any person, and violation of an order of protection.

"Threats to kill public officials and their families for simply doing their jobs will not be tolerated," said U.S. Attorney Ross. "Here, once law enforcement learned that in addition to the defendant's grotesque threats to murder and torture family members of the public officials involved in his original commercial sex trafficking conviction, that the defendant had also taken steps to locate his intended victims just as he was about to be released from prison, quick action was taken to prevent his release and to notify everyone involved to take precautionary measures. We are grateful for the brave witness that came forward to notify law enforcement of Buck's wicked plans and also the investigation by the United States Marshals Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Bureau of Prisons that resulted in stopping Buck from the evil he intended to carry out. We are thankful that the court recognized that Buck is a sadistic and dangerous individual that needs to be removed from society for an additional 25 years."

The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation with assistance from the United States Marshals, and the Bureau of Prisons. The case was prosecuted by United States Attorney Jonathan D. Ross and Assistant United States Attorney Bart Dickinson, along with other Assistant United States Attorneys in the United States Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Arkansas.

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