Anchorage Daily News

A Wasilla woman was sentenced Wednesday to 16 months in federal prison for a relentless scheme against a school counselor that ended with an e-mailed bomb threat to Wasilla High School.

Barbara Lynn Watkins, 43, got the maximum sentence allowed for her crimes, according to a written statement from the U.S. Attorney's office in Anchorage.

According to the charges, Watkins created an e-mail account in the name of Kathy Darnell, her husband's former wife.

Darnell has three children with Watkins' husband, James Scott Watkins.

Before she was caught, Watkins, "sent a ton of emails to the school threatening the guidance counselor," Assistant U.S. Attorney Kimberly Sayers-Fay said.

One of the long, rambling messages from Watkins, posing as Darnell, said she wanted to take one of the children to another state. If the school didn't make the child available, she would blow up the school and kill the counselor, Jeanine Sparks, according to the prosecution.

Sparks offered the text of some of the e-mails during the sentencing:

12/04/07: "i don't care what force I have to use either. Guns work very well for threatening. I do have friends."

12/6/07: "i will use what eever force nessary to use. I have seen allot of school shootings and it is ent hard to do."

12/10/07: "You can run bu you can;t hide ... . I have put a bounty on your head ... enjoy life while you can."

Sayers-Fay said the following e-mail was the one that gave rise to the bomb threat charge:

12/20/07 "(stepson) better be out front of the school today by 2.00 by him self of I will bomb the school you got better make it happen."

The e-mails began in October of 2007 and ended when an FBI investigation caught up with Watkins this January, after agents traced the messages to Watkins' home computer.

In the meantime, Watkin's husband, believing Darnell was behind the threats, got a restraining order against her that kept her from seeing their children for nearly a year as the investigation continued.

District Court Judge John Sedwick imposed the 16-month sentence because Watkins' acts constituted a "carefully orchestrated, well thought out and escalating scheme aimed at the biological mother of (her) stepchildren."

The judge said Watkins' conduct was "far more serious than a typical bomb threat" because the fear Watkins caused was ongoing.

The threats "held the school hostage for over three months," Wasilla High School Principal Dwight Probasco said at the sentencing.

Sparks told the judge that Watkins' death-threat campaign caused her and her family to live in terror for weeks.

Not only did Watkins cause those troubles, according to court documents, "She also duped her husband, the U.S. military, and the Alaska state court system.

"In October or November 2007, Watkins sent a Red Cross message to her husband about the alleged threats from Darnell. Because of those threats, the military permitted James Watkins to end his deployment (in Iraq) early."

Sayer-Fay said Watkins, who pleaded guilty July 7, will be given about a month to get family business in order before she reports to prison.

James Watkins is expected to be deployed to Afghanistan this winter, Sayer-Fay said.

Following completion of her prison sentence, Watkins will be on probation for three years and will be required to participate in mental health counseling.

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