A Butler man was sentenced Monday, July 28, to serve a maximum of just under two years in jail for threatening a district judge and another district court’s staff in June 2023.

Matthew P. Dec., 56, was sentenced to serve 311 days to two years less one day in Butler County Prison.

He was convicted by a jury in March of five counts of terroristic threats and four counts of harassment — all misdemeanors. A felony charge of aggravated assault, and four misdemeanor counts of simple assault were dismissed.

Senior Common Pleas Judge Kenneth Valasek, who presided over the trial, sentenced Dec to concurrently serve 311 days to two years less one day on four counts of terroristic threats followed by 24 months of probation on the fifth count and pay fines totaling $500. He ordered no additional penalty for the harassment charges.

According to state police, Dec called Butler Township District Judge Kevin O’Donnell’s office June 6, 2023, and talked to a staff member about filing a lawsuit, but was told he had to file it at Chicora District Judge Lewis Stoughton’s office. He was told Stoughton would have to recuse himself for the suit to be transferred to another district court.

Dec then threatened to hire people from Pittsburgh to “come up and burn Judge Stoughton’s place down” and repeated the threat numerous times during the phone call, police said.

He then threatened to bring people from Pittsburgh with him to “take out everyone in MDJ office 50-1-01” and told the staff member to put a gun in her mouth, saying she was a communist, police said. District court 50-1-01 is O’Donnell’s office.

Speaking before the sentence was imposed, Stoughton said he is concerned about threats to public officials, especially those made on the internet and during the COVID-19 lockdown.

“Who knows who will show up” if someone posts a threat to burn a public official’s house, Stoughton said.

He said on Monday morning he adjusted one of the security cameras on his property and looked at his backyard thinking about potential hiding places created by overgrowth.

Dec has expressed no remorse for the terror he cause Stoughton and O’Donnell’s staff, said assistant district attorney Robert Zanella. He said Dec should have a mental health evaluation.

Defense attorney Joseph Hudak said he does not believe Dec acted with malice. Instead, he has core beliefs that he is passionate about, he said.

“In the heat of passion, he gets carried away,” Hudak said.

He asked Valasek to give Dec a sentence of time served. Valasek agreed to give Dec credit for having served 311 days, including 98 days in jail and 213 days of house arrest.

Dec said he has been diagnosed with having a personality disorder, and a psychiatrist said he was possessive.

He denied threatening to get a gang from Pittsburgh to burn Stoughton’s house, saying he knew the conversation was being recorded.

“I’m quite sorry for the misunderstanding,” Dec said.

He also said he should have been charged with only one count because he was talking to one person on the phone.