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Terrell Man Charged With Threat Against Kaufman Official

Bill Zeeble
/
KERA News

Nick Morale, a 56 year-old Terrel resident, has been arrested in Kaufman by the Texas Rangers. He's charged with making a terroristic threat against a Kaufman County official. Officials say he used the Crime Stoppers tip line. 

The Kaufman County Sheriff's Department says Morale called Crime Stoppers on Monday and said a county official would be the next victim. That official was not named and the identity was blacked out in the publicly released affidavit.  

Kaufman County Sheriff’s Lt. Justin Lewis said “All threats will be taken seriously, investigated and prosecuted in order to insure the safety of citizens and our public officials.”

Lewis said Morale is not linked to the murders of Mike or Cynthia McLelland, or Mark Hasse, and the investigation into the murders is ongoing. The Kaufman County Sheriff’s Department added  there will be zero tolerance for the behavior alleged against Mr. Morale, who’s jailed in Kaufman County. He’s being held on a million dollar bond. 

Bill Zeeble has been a full-time reporter at KERA since 1992, covering everything from medicine to the Mavericks and education to environmental issues.