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Lansford man threatened to decapitate attorney

KINGSTON — A Carbon County man accused of threatening a judge and others is now accused of threatening to decapitate and rip out the heart of a local attorney, according to police.

John Robert Large, 53, of Lansford, was scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday on charges alleging he threatened to kill attorney Leonard Junker if the lawyer did not refund him $2,500.

According to a police affidavit, officers responded to Junker’s law office at 297 Pierce St. the afternoon of June 14, 2016, to a report of a death threat. Junker told police Large was a former client from more than 15 years earlier and that he recognized the voice in a threatening voicemail left at his office.

Police say Large identified himself by name in the message and said he wanted Junker to give him a $2,500 refund. He directed Junker to give the money to Large’s mother by the following Friday or he would burn the attorney’s home to the ground and kill him, police said.

Large went on to describe how he had been “doing recon” on Junker and that after he killed him he planned to stuff Junker’s head in a smoking chimney, according to police.

“I’m coming for you, Leonard,” the affidavit quotes Large as saying. “I’m going to (expletive) up your world like you (expletive) up my world.”

The tirade continued with Large threatening to cut off Junker’s head and rip out his heart, which he would then shove down Junker’s throat, according to the complaint.

The message concluded with Large warning he planned to get Junker good and that nobody — not the police, prosecutors or a judge — could protect Junker from Large “going nuclear,” police said.

Junker told police Large has a history of making threats and that he believed him to be capable of carrying them out. He warned police to be extremely careful dealing with Large and said he planned to make changes in his daily life until Large was captured.

Last month, police filed charges against Large, hitting him with felony counts of attempted extortion, making terroristic threats and criminal use of a communication facility, as well as a misdemeanor count of harassment.

Court records show Large is awaiting trial in five other threat cases in Lehigh, Carbon and Northampton counties, and that he has been in custody since last July. Large has been charged with calling in a bomb threat to both the home and office of a Carbon County attorney. He was arraigned in 2016 in Orange County, Vermont, for charges on terroristic threats after he told Pennsylvania State Police on Tuesday he was going to make the “Orlando, Florida, attack look small.”

During his arraignment in Orange County, Large had to be removed from the courtroom after he threatened the judge and was causing a scene inside the courtroom.

Large was also charged with threatening his ex-wife and her parents. He is charged with leaving a dead snake and crow on her property with threatening notes.

For that incident, he faces charges of terroristic threats, harassment, and not having permits from the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission and Pennsylvania Game Commission.

In 2014, Nesquehoning police said Large slashed tires and damaged cars belonging to an administrator for HCR Manor Care, Bethlehem. He also left disturbing notes and a box with “tic toc” printed in large letters near her car.

Large, whose daughter is a resident, was aggressively pushing for her discharge to a facility in Hometown. Police had been called to Manor Care to have him removed.

Large is being held at the Lehigh County Jail with bail set at a combined $400,000 in five cases.

John Large