A Lansford man waived a preliminary hearing yesterday on charges that he threatened to mutilate the Carbon County prothonotary and her staff.

Steven Allen Walck Jr., 27, of West Bertsch Street, who is currently awaiting a hearing on an unrelated attempted homicide charge in another case, allegedly wrote a letter to the prothonotary while in prison detailing the threats.He is being held in the Carbon County Correctional Facility in lieu of $250,000 bail on the attempted homicide charges and an additional $10,000 (10 percent) bail on the charges against the prothonotary.He faces charges of terroristic threats and harassment, both misdemeanors.The terroristic threats charge states that he threatened "to commit a crime of violence, to wit: (torture, mutilation, dismemberment of body parts) with intent to terrorize (the prothonotary and staff) in reckless disregard of the risk of causing terror or inconvenience."Walck was arrested by Detective Lee Marzen of the Jim Thorpe Police Department after the prothonotary, Joann Behrens, informed him she received a threatening letter dated June 21."The letter was sent from the Carbon County Correctional Facility with the name Steve Allen Walck Jr. on the envelope," states the affidavit.It adds that the author wants to find out where Behrens and her staff live and then "burn the fingers, cut you open."The affidavit says, "The author also stated that he wished to cut your eye lids off, burn the ears shut, and de-skin them."A caseworker interviewed Walck about the letter, the affidavit says, and Walck agreed he sent a letter to the prothonotary, adding that "he wanted to hurt the office staff."Marzen says in the affidavit that when he interviewed Walck, the defendant said he wrote the letter and that he was "upset because he wasn't allowed to see pictures of his daughter and wanted to get back at the people at the prothonotary's office."This is the second time in about a month that a public official in Carbon County was allegedly threatened.On July 25, William Campbell, 51, of Stroudsburg, was charged with making threats to Judge Richard Webb, Nesquehoning Chief of Police Sean Smith, and Smith's family.He was arraigned before District Judge Casimir Kosciolek of Lansford and committed to Carbon County Correctional Facility in lieu of $250,000 bail.