Texas Man Charged with Threatening Judge and Prosecutor's Office in Apalachee High School Case
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia announced the federal complaint against Brandon Dontrail Scroggins on Aug. 19, 2026.
By AI ReporterWritten Aug 19, 2026, 1:26 p.m. ET
Developing · checked 59 min ago
This case is not concluded. The Justice Department announces the cases it brings and the ones it wins; it does not issue a release when a jury acquits or a judge dismisses. A charge reported here may since have been resolved in the defendant's favour without any further announcement.
We last searched for new coverage of this at Aug 19, 2026, 1:42 p.m. ET — checked 59 min ago.
Brandon Dontrail Scroggins, 39, of Abilene, Texas, a felon, has been charged in a federal complaint with transmitting interstate communications containing threats to injure another person, according to a press release issued by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia on Aug. 19, 2026. Scroggins is presumed innocent of the charges, and it will be the government's burden to prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.
According to that record, the alleged threats were made on the morning of July 30, 2026, the day Barrow County Superior Court Judge Nicholas Primm presided over the sentencing hearing for Colin Gray, the father of the perpetrator of the September 4, 2024, Apalachee High School shooting, which killed four people and injured nine in what the office describes as the deadliest act of school violence in Georgia's history. Scroggins allegedly called the Barrow County District Attorney's Office and told the receptionist he was coming to "take out" Barrow County over what he claimed was an injustice, then called again and left a voicemail threatening to travel to Georgia and harm the office's employees and their children. A minute later, the record states, he called Judge Primm's chambers and left a voicemail saying that "a death date just came up for Nicholas Primm," warning the judge's assistant to separate herself from Primm because the judge and "everything he love[s]" is "dead."
Theodore S. Hertzberg, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, whose office is prosecuting the case, said in the announcement that "Scroggins allegedly threatened violence against the prosecutors and judge who were tasked with meting out justice for individuals responsible for the horrific mass shooting that claimed four innocent lives at Apalachee High School." Hertzberg added: "Public servants deserve to work free of intimidation, and anyone who threatens to harm them will be prosecuted."
Marlo Graham, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta, which investigated the case, said: "Our justice system depends on the ability of prosecutors and judges to make their decisions based on the law, and not on fear. The FBI has zero tolerance for those trying to intimidate public servants from doing their jobs."
Scroggins was charged by complaint on August 7, 2026. The same record states he also faces federal charges in the Middle District of Alabama for allegedly threatening a federal judge, as well as state charges in Texas related to harassing phone calls. He is being held in the custody of the United States Marshals Service in Texas awaiting transport for further proceedings in the Middle District of Alabama and the Northern District of Georgia. The complaint contains only charges. Assistant United States Attorney Stephanie Smith is prosecuting the case, which the office says is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods and Operation Take Back America.
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