A Butler man accused of threatening district court staff members and a magistrate saw his case move forward to county Common Pleas Court following a preliminary hearing Tuesday, July 25.

Matthew P. Dec, 54, was arrested June 6 in relation to a threatening phone call police said he made that afternoon to Kevin O’Donnell’s district court office in Sunnyview Circle, Butler Township.

Witnesses said during testimony Tuesday that Dec made various threats toward the staff and District Judge Lewis Stoughton, used racial slurs and called court employees communists.

Dec initially was charged with one count of felony aggravated assault, five counts of misdemeanor terroristic threats and four counts each of simple assault, harassment and reckless endangerment.

Following the testimony of three witnesses at the county courthouse before Senior District Judge Wayne Seibel, Dec’s bail was reduced from $250,000 to $25,000 and the counts of reckless endangerment were withdrawn.

Robert Geagan, a state constable assigned to Butler County, was the first witness. He said he was in O’Donnell’s office when Dec called June 6.

Geagan explained that Dec was put on speaker phone, and all three staff members heard the conversation.

Taryn Bartolicius, who works in O’Donnell’s office, later testified that Dec’s voice was recognizable to all staff.

“Our go-to is to put him on speaker, because he tends to become irate,” she said.

Geagan and Bartolicius said Dec called to file a civil complaint. When staff members explained that his complaint had to be filed through Stoughton’s office in Chicora, he became upset.

“He wasn’t giving (the staff member) a chance to explain what he had to do,” Geagan said. “This went on for four of five minutes. ... His level was getting higher as he spoke.”

“(The call) slowly imploded as soon as it was said it needs to go to Judge Stoughton’s office,” Bartolicius said.

She added that Dec spoke about his prior dealings with Stoughton and threatened to have Stoughton removed from the bench at least three times.

At one point, Bartolicius said, Dec used a racial slur, saying he would hire people from Pittsburgh to “take them out.”

He also threatened to “burn down Judge Stoughton’s place,” Geagan testified.

Employees then told Dec that his phone call was being recorded to try to de-escalate the situation, Bartolicius said. She explained that office phone calls are not recorded, but it’s used as a tactic to calm people down.

“If anything, it ramped him up,” she said.

She added that Dec said, “you all should go home and put a pistol in your mouth because you’re communists,” before Geagan advised to hang up the phone.

“I sat there and prayed for a minute because he’s terrifying,” Bartolicius said through tears.

Geagan said Stoughton was immediately informed of the threats made by Dec. When Stoughton took the witness stand, he said he took those threats seriously.

“(Dec) was talking about recruiting people from Pittsburgh to burn me down,” he said. “I definitely felt threatened.”

Herbert Terrell, defense attorney, argued that the commonwealth had not met its burden, as the threats were made via phone call and there was no real assault.

“I think we have a vague threat,” he said.

Kulzer agreed that the charges of reckless endangerment could be withdrawn, but asked all others to be held for court. Seibel agreed.

During the bond hearing that followed, Terrell asked that Dec be released from jail, arguing that his preliminary hearing was not held in a timely manner and that he was subjected to a mental health evaluation.

“This whole period of his incarceration has been a nightmare,” he said.

Kulzer opposed Dec’s release and a reduction of bail, due to the seriousness of the threats and Dec’s criminal history.

Seibel ultimately decided to reduce Dec’s bond to $25,000 and have him placed on pretrial supervision should he be released from Butler County Prison.

Dec’s formal arraignment is scheduled Sept. 12 before Judge Timothy F. McCune.