Man That Threaten to Kill New Orleans Reporter is Deemed Incompetent
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A New Orleans area man accused of threatening the life of a WDSU Reporter and burn down the station will spend at least the next three months at a state mental hospital.
A judge found Scot Riddick incompetent to stand trial on a cyberstalking charge.
Riddick suffers from schizoaffective disorder, and his explanation for why he left several threatening voicemail messages for the reporter was “rather bizarre,” forensic psychologist Rafael Salcedo said during a competency hearing Tuesday.
Salcedo and forensic psychiatrist Dr. Richard Richaud met with Riddick before Criminal District Court Judge Keva Landrum-Johnson endorsed their assessment and ruled him incompetent.
Dressed in a yellow jail jumpsuit, Riddick said nothing as he sat at the defense table.
According to police, Riddick left nine voicemail recordings at the New Orleans TV station. He threatened to kill one particular reporter and “stated he would burn down the news station building, and that he knew where the victim, a news reporter, lived, even stating a street name and general area,” according to a police account.
Riddick’s brother apparently is a former station employee.
“I’m waiting for your ass,” Riddick said in one voicemail, according to the police account.
“I’m already out here, you (expletive). Let me tell you something else: If I ever catch you hanging around watching any tapes my brother gave you, I will personally come over there and kill you, you understand?”
District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro’s office charged Riddick last month with a single count of cyberstalking in a bill of information. The charge carries a maximum one-year prison sentence for a first offense.
Salcedo did not detail exactly what Riddick told him about the threats. He described Riddick as “not an unintelligent man,” but delusional.
Riddick had a “propensity to make statements which in a different context would be considered potentially self-incriminatory,” Salcedo said. “His problem is, he needs medication adjustments.”
