A woman who was about to be released from an Idaho prison will stay behind bars a while longer because federal prosecutors say she mailed a threatening stick figure drawing to a relative. Linda Joyce Lakes was serving time at the Pocatello Women’s Correctional Center on probation violations stemming from a 2007 grand theft sentence, and she was scheduled to be released last Friday. But earlier this month, the U.S. attorney’s office charged her with mailing threatening communications, a felony. Prosecutors say that in 2010, Lakes mailed a drawing that apparently depicted a battered stick figure alongside threatening phrases such as “No tears,” “No hiding,” and “No more you.” “One stick figure appeared to be lying down with his face smashed. The baseball bat was lying nearby with damage that appeared to be consistent with its use on the first stick figure. The second stick figure appeared to be walking away with a smile,” Wright wrote. Lisa Tolle, a paralegal with Federal Defender Services of Idaho in Pocatello, said her office had just been assigned the case and attorneys had not yet fully reviewed it.
