Tree-Killer Accused of Threatening Nev. Governor

LAS VEGAS (AP) - A 63-year-old Arizona man convicted in 2007 of destroying 546 trees in a retirement community outside Las Vegas has been accused of making related death threats to Nevada's governor and others.

The Nevada Department of Public Safety said Wednesday it is seeking extradition to the Silver State for Douglas Hoffman of Goodyear, Ariz., on felony charges of conveying false information concerning acts of terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, lethal agents or toxins.

Hoffman was arrested without incident March 19 by Goodyear police, and released on bail March 26, Nevada authorities said. The department said Hoffman was due to appear in court April 7 in Arizona.

Attempts to reach Hoffman were not immediately successful Wednesday night. His phone number in Goodyear was a private listing.

Goodyear police did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.

An arrest warrant provided by the public safety department said Hoffman's fingerprints were on two letters sent to Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons, and threatened militia action if immediate changes weren't made in the neighborhood.

"We can raze entire Pulte (Homes) communities, conduct drive-bys, torch house after house, use (improvised explosive device methods and or unleash are (sic) supply of chemical, biological, nuclear mass destruction or all of the above," the letter said, according to the warrant.

Pulte Homes is the company that built the community in a Las Vegas suburb. The Pulte Homes community is roughly 10 miles south of the Las Vegas Strip.

Prosecutors say Hoffman cut down and poisoned the trees because they blocked a Las Vegas Strip view from the backyard of a home owned by his in-laws. He was sentenced in January 2008 to 18 months to five years in prison.