A man accused of traveling from Alabama to Orange County and threatening a Catholic abbey in person and over email ahead of its celebration of the Feast of St. Michael later this month will be held without bail following a court appearance Wednesday, Sept. 3.
Joshua Michael Richardson’s bail was initially set at $50,000 after he was arrested on Aug. 28 on suspicion of threatening St. Michael’s Abbey in Silverado Canyon, which sits on a 320-acre campus that houses seminarians and priests of the Norbertine Order as well as a church and monastery. At a court appearance Wednesday, prosecutors argued Richardson poses a serious threat to the public.
“No one should have to worship in fear that a stranger would walk through the door with the intent to carry out their own day of judgement and determine who lives and who dies,” said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer in a statement. “A threat on one house of worship is an attack on every place of worship, and we refuse to allow threats and terror dissuade any person from practicing their faith without fear.”
The Orange County District Attorney’s Office accused Richardson, 38 of Jemison, Alabama, of sending a threatening email to the abbey on Aug. 19 in which he referred to himself as “the rider of the pale horse” and said he was “sent to do the Lord’s reaping before his harvest.” Prosecutors believe he was referencing the Book of Revelation, in which the rider of the pale horse personifies Death, who can kill through sword, famine, disease and wild animals.
Richardson said in the email that he was Saint Michael the Archangel, known as the angel of death in Catholicism, and that he targeted the abbey because it was one of the few in the country to still celebrate the Feast of St. Michael. In the email, Richardson also said he would soon travel to the church from Alabama.
The festival, also known as Michaelmas, will be honored on Sept. 29 to celebrate St. Michael, who defended the church against the devil.
On Tuesday, Aug. 26, prosecutors allege Richardson attended afternoon church services, followed a priest to a private area of the church and told him, “that he came to do the Lord’s work, to separate the weak from the weeds, and that he rode his white pale horse from Alabama,” the District Attorney’s Office said.
A priest reported the in-person threat and emailed threats to the Orange County Sheriff’s Department two days later, said Sgt. Gerard McCann. Authorities detained Richardson later that day in his vehicle in a Santa Monica parking structure in the 1500 block of Ocean Avenue.
After searching his truck, officials found body armor, six high-capacity magazines, brass knuckles, a sword, several knives, a stun gun, duct tape, rope, walkie-talkies and other tactical gear, prosecutors said.
Richardson’s arraignment is scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 4.