Balestire Enters Guilty Plea
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Updated: 11:02 PM Nov 20, 2008
Balestire Enters Guilty Plea
WTAP News
Earlier this year, a Parkersburg man was taken into custody...accused of making threats against a center for troubled youth. Now, he has entered a plea to the charge against him.
Posted: 4:40 PM Nov 20, 2008
Reporter: Todd Baucher
Email Address: todd.baucher@wtap.com
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A Parkersburg man accused of making threats against employees of a Wood County juvenile facility...faces sentencing in January.

40-year-old Frank Balestire pleaded guilty Thursday to making a threat of a terrorist act.

He's accused of sending messages he planned to burn down a building and shoot individuals at the the Pressley Ridge center.

"The state is willing to reccommend that Mr. Balestire be considered for home confinement," Assistant Wood County Prosecutor Sean Francisco says, "but the court may sentence him to prison. It's all up to the court."

Francisco cautions that it's illegal to make threats against an institution through media such as a phone call or the internet.

"It's illegal to make threats against an instituiton over the internet, a phone line, or any of those media," he says. "When you threaten to do harm to a a public facility, not to mention the people inside, then we all take that very seriously."

Balestire is to be sentenced January 29th.


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