California Man Accused of Sending Bomb Threat to Judge in Nolan Wells Death Case, Court Docs Say

A Sacramento man has been taken into custody after federal authorities said he sent a series of violent online threats to the mother of a teenager who was with Nolan Wells on the day Wells vanished.

Wells, 18, was reported missing on July 4 after heading out by boat with friends to Horn Island, a barrier island along Mississippi’s Gulf Coast. Search teams spent two days combing the area before a National Park Service ranger found his remains on July 6 near the island’s northwestern point.

Joseph Alfredo Vasquez Dumarce, 27, was arrested Thursday and charged with interstate transmission of a threatening communication, according to federal court filings. Investigators allege Dumarce used Facebook Messenger to send multiple threatening messages to Jackson County Chancery Court Judge Ashlee Cole, including warnings that a dangerous package would be delivered to her office.

Dumarce is a resident of Sacramento, California.

In one message allegedly sent on July 11, Dumarce told Cole that something would be arriving at her office within days and suggested others should be present when it was opened, according to the complaint.

Federal authorities said another message contained graphic threats, referenced the boat tied to the case and claimed that law enforcement would not be able to prevent what would happen once the package was opened.

Dumarce also allegedly called numbers associated with the office of the Jackson County Chancery Court on July 11 at 1:27 a.m.

Dumarce was identified by authorities through the email associated with his Facebook account. The charge Dumarce faces carries a maximum of five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

Cole is the mother of Warren Hudson, who was with Wells the day he disappeared. Hudson hasn’t been accused of any wrongdoing, and records from the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources indicate Wells chose to stay on Horn Island rather than return to the coast with him.

During a July 22 news conference, attorney Ben Crump revealed that an area of “red discoloration” was found on Wells’ head, but said Dr. Roger Mitchell, who performed an independent autopsy, couldn’t come to a conclusion on a cause or manner of death “pending further investigation.” Official autopsy results for Wells’ death have not been released.

Wells was a wide receiver at Southwest Mississippi Community College and had hopes to play at the Division I level, according to Crump, an attorney for his family.

The FBI declined to comment.