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LAS VEGAS -- A federal judge has order a man accused of threatening to kill President Brack Obama to return to Utah to face criminal charges.
The magistrate judge, late Monday afternoon, ordered Daniel James Murray, 36, to be extradited.
But federal prosecutors in Utah said it could be several weeks before he appears in a Salt Lake City courtroom.
Murray appeared in a Nevada court Monday for what is called an identity hearing.
"It basically establishes that he is the person that was charged in the complaint that was issued by the magistrate judge here in Utah," Melodie Rydalch, spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney for Utah Brett Tolman, told KSL NewsRadio. "If it is him, and we believe it is, then he will be transferred back to Salt Lake."
Ultimately, Murray will appear before a federal judge in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City to answer to the charge of threats against the president. If convicted, he faces up to five years in a federal prison and a $250,000 fine.
Such a charge is not typically filed, but federal prosecutors believed that Murray either had the capability or means to carry out such a threat. Murray is accused of making threats against the president's life during encounters last month with tellers at a Zions Bank branch in St. George.
According to an affidavit filed by a Secret Service agent, Murray opened an account with $85,000 and asked the teller if Zions was "solvent," making reference to economic collapse and saying that if people lost money there would be "killing."
Later, when he tried to withdraw some money and had trouble getting it, the agent wrote that he told a teller: "We are on a mission to kill the President of the United States." He then cleaned out the entire account and vanished.
Secret Service agents were looking for Murray, who had eight handguns registered to him. He was arrested Friday night outside the Riverside Casino in Laughlin, Nev., without incident.
Rydalch said once Murray does appear in federal court, he could undergo a mental health evaluation.
"We know very little about Mr. Murray," she said. "There will be reports prepared for the judge that will outline what his background is, what his criminal history is, if there are any mental health issues."
E-mail:bwinslow@ksl.com
