Macomb County felon sent hundreds of threatening emails to federal magistrate judge

A Macomb County man with a long list of contacts with law enforcement is being held after being accused of threatening to kill a federal magistrate judge, according to court documents released Thursday.

James Nelson Holloway, 33, of Warren, made his initial appearance before Magistrate Judge Elizabeth A. Stafford in U.S. District Court in Detroit Thursday afternoon. The judge ordered Holloway held at 1 p.m. Monday pending a detention hearing.

Holloway is accused of threatening the life of an unnamed federal magistrate judge earlier this week after the judge approved a search warrant for an investigation involving members of an FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force.

He was charged with threatening to injure a federal judge and communicating an interstate threat. If convicted, he could be sentenced to 10 years or more in prison. The intended target of the threats is not named and there are at least seven magistrate judges serving in the Eastern District of Michigan, including the federal courthouse in Detroit, Ann Arbor, Flint and Bay City.

Court records did not identify an attorney who could comment on Holloway’s behalf.

According to the 23-page dossier, the investigation began in September after FBI agents received a tip that he may be violating federal firearms laws. The tipster said Holloway purchased $2,000 worth of tactical items on Amazon, including rifle scopes, a tactical vest, night vision optics, a knife holster, GoPro camera and knee/elbow pads.

The items were sent to a Staples store in Brighton. But because Holloway was convicted of carrying a concealed weapon after a 2019 incident, he was not legally allowed to own a firearm.

In the 2019 incident, which occurred in the 14700 block of Hannebauer Lane in Sterling Heights, Holloway’s mother called 911 and said her son chased her out of the house at gunpoint before barricading himself inside.

James Holloway is accused of purchasing military-style gear similar to the one in this Amazon ad. (PHOTO — US LAW FIRM)

“She further stated that Holloway was mentally unstable and had fired a gun in the yard of the family home,” an FBI special agent wrote in the complaint.

Holloway was ultimately convicted of carrying a concealed weapon, domestic violence and reckless use of a firearm during the 2019 incident. He was sentenced to 330 days in jail with credit for 610 days served, according to Macomb County Circuit Court records.

In the latest investigation, federal agents say they reviewed Holloway’s recent Amazon purchases. They learned he also purchased a $999 thermal rifle scope, weapon optics, wound clotting agent and a tactical pouch, according to court documents.

Officers say they tracked Holloway’s vehicle to a parking lot in Livonia later that day and interviewed him. He was holding what appeared to be a tactical vest and parked next to a white truck trailer that authorities say was on Holloway.

Holloway collected the items from Brighton Staples on September 27. Investigators reviewed store surveillance footage and said they saw Holloway with the items in a shopping cart, court records allege.

“During the conversation, police asked Holloway if he knew that certain convicted felons were not legally allowed to possess firearms, and Holloway stated that that ‘was not the law’ and that it was ‘not true,’” the complaint states. He said it was his right to own firearms under the ‘supreme law,’” the FBI agent wrote in court documents.

A few days later, around midnight on October 1, a person wearing black tactical gear, a hood, face mask and gloves showed up at the front door of Holloway’s parents’ home in Sterling Heights. The person covered the doorbell camera lens with chewing gum, rang the doorbell and called out for “Mr. Hollow.”

The person appeared to be wearing a GoPro camera and a drop holster – two items Holloway ordered from Amazon.

Investigators said the person had an object hanging on his right side “that appears to wave or move in a manner consistent with a long gun.” Holloway’s parents told them that “the appearance and voice of the person in the video are consistent with Holloway.”

According to the complaint, a search of a license plate reader database showed Holloway’s vehicle was in Sterling Heights from 11 p.m. the night before to 1 a.m. Oct. 1. Investigators said this is consistent with the time the visitor rang Holloway’s parents’ doorbell. ‘ At home.

FBI agents learned that Holloway has no permanent residence and that the address on his driver’s license is a Warren hotel. He was also known to be staying at two hotels in Warren, she added.

On Friday, investigators executed federal search warrants at one of the hotels, his car and the trailer. They also searched Holloway and seized firearm accessories consistent with the tip, tactical gear, cell phones, computers and digital storage devices,” the complaint states. However, they found no firearms.

FBI agents left copies of the search warrants and related paperwork with Holloway. The search warrants were signed by two federal magistrate judges, including the lawyer the government says Holloway targeted. The magistrate judge is referred to as “Magistrate Judge A” in the unsealed complaint.

On Tuesday, the FBI learned that two email accounts had sent more than 400 emails to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Detroit, and a second government account in the days after the FBI investigations.

One of the threatening emails read: “Yes. I’m going to kill (Judge A) in a court of law.

Agents say Holloway was connected to both email addresses. He used one of the addresses when he opened a PayPal account earlier this year and a second address was used to send an email last weekend identifying Holloway as the sender, court documents show.