Bail was denied Saturday night for Aric Taylor Ballard, a 34-year-old homeless man, who allegedly threatened to kill a district judge in an email that he sent to Centre County last week, state police said.

In the Feb. 23 email, which was not sent to any particular individual but to the county’s general email, Ballard wrote “tell (District Judge) Denise Dieter I’ll (expletive) kill her,” according to an affidavit filed by Cpl. Jonathan Thompson.

In the email’s subject heading, Ballard wrote “Death threat,” Thompson said in the court document.

Much of the email consisted of rambling sentences that make little to no sense. An arrest warrant – charging Ballard with one misdemeanor count of terroristic threats – was filed two days later.

Extra security measures were taken to protect Dieter while area law enforcement looked for Ballard’s whereabouts.

Taken into custody Saturday in the Milton area while walking along a road, Ballard was arraigned before District Judge William Solomon, who sent him directly to the Lycoming County Prison. Ballard was recently displaced in one of the many residential fires.

The only known prior public contact Ballard had with Dieter was two years ago on March 27 when she arraigned him on city police charges of burglarizing an unlocked home in the 300 block of Grampian Boulevard hours earlier. While in the home, Ballard put on an evening gown and dashed out the door, police said. When officers took him into custody a short time later, he was still wearing the gown, police said.

Charged that night with burglary, theft and felony trespassing, Ballard later pled guilty before Lycoming County Judge Ryan Tira to the trespassing charge while the two other offenses were dismissed. He was sentenced to six months to 421 days in the county prison.