WILKES-BARRE - Wearing shackles and a headpiece equipped with a spit guard, a Luzerne County Correctional Facility prisoner appeared in court Thursday morning on charges he threatened to shoot jailhouse guards.
John Hayden Calk, 28, is charged with two counts of making terroristic threats after police say he told guards he planned to buy an assault rifle, wait outside the jail and shoot the guards on their way to and from work.
Mr. Calk, who was sentenced March 20 to serve 16 to 32 months in prison on a robbery conviction, told guards that "what happened at Sandy Hook Elementary would be nothing" compared to what he would do, according to a police affidavit.
Asked about threatening guards as he was being escorted from Magisterial District Judge Martin R. Kane's courtroom Thursday morning, Mr. Calk denied knowledge of the incident.
"I don't remember anything," he said, shuffling across a parking lot.
His hands were cuffed to his torso with a leather strap and his feet were shackled as law officers led him to an unmarked car. He was also outfitted with a black mesh bag containing a white spit guard that encircled the lower half of his head.
"I just got beat up, up in the county," Mr. Calk said. "Guards wearing uniforms think they can do what they want to an inmate."
Asked for elaboration, Mr. Calk said, "I was harassed by Sgt. (Kathleen) Handley. I'm not the only inmate that she's harassed."
An affidavit Luzerne County detectives filed in court alleges Mr. Calk threatened to kill Sgt. Handley on Feb. 21, saying he hated her and she was out to get him.
He was scheduled for a preliminary hearing Thursday morning, but it was continued until May 23. Mr. Calk's bail on the threat charges remains set at $100,000.
Contact the writer: jhalpin@citizensvoice.com