Man arrested for allegedly e-mailing threats to officials

A pretrial hearing has been set for Tuesday for a Huntington Beach man charged with e-mailing a threat to Orange County Supervisor John Moorlach, the district attorney said.

Steve Van Arroyo, 50, is charged with one felony count of criminal threats and one felony count of threatening a public official.

A conviction on both counts could result in up to three years in prison. Arroyo is being held on $250,000 bail.

On Jan. 25 one of Moorlach’s staff members received a call from a man calling himself “Dusty” and asking for Moorlach’s e-mail address.

On Jan. 26, Moorlach received an e-mail on his work account threatening him, his family and four other supervisors, district attorney officials said.

Orange County sheriffs are investigating the matter.

Arroyo is accused of living at the home corresponding to that was the source of the threatening e-mails’ IP address.

In 1999, Arroyo was arrested for making criminal threats and harassing phone calls, public records show.

— Joseph Serna