Georgia · Winder, Barrow County · Crime & Courts
Barrow County Judge Threats Case: Brandon Scroggins Charged Over Calls to Barrow County Superior Court Judge Nicholas Primm and the District Attorney’s Office on Colin Gray’s Apalachee High School Sentencing Day, Winder, GA
Federal prosecutors in the Northern District of Georgia announced charges on Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2026 against Brandon Dontrail Scroggins, 39, of Abilene, Texas, over phone calls they say were placed on July 30, 2026 to the Barrow County District Attorney’s Office and to the chambers of Barrow County Superior Court Judge Nicholas Primm in Winder — the day Primm sentenced Colin Gray, the father of the Apalachee High School shooter, to 15 years in prison. Scroggins has been charged, not convicted.
Key facts
- What
- Federal charges announced against a Texas man over phone calls prosecutors say threatened a Georgia judge and a district attorney’s office
- Announced
- Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2026, by federal prosecutors in the Northern District of Georgia
- Charged
- Brandon Dontrail Scroggins, 39, of Abilene, Texas. He has been charged and not convicted
- The charge
- Transmitting interstate communications containing threats to injure another person, filed in a criminal complaint on Aug. 7, 2026, AccessNorthGA reports. Atlanta News First reports Scroggins was arrested that same day
- Alleged targets
- Barrow County Superior Court Judge Nicholas Primm and the Barrow County District Attorney’s Office
- When
- July 30, 2026 — the day Judge Primm sentenced Colin Gray in the Apalachee High School case
- Where
- Winder, Barrow County, Georgia. Scroggins is from Abilene, Texas; the charge is for interstate communications
- Investigating
- The Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case remains under investigation, AccessNorthGA reports
- Officials quoted
- U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg and FBI Atlanta Special Agent in Charge Marlo Graham
- Custody
- Held by the U.S. Marshals Service in Texas, awaiting transport for proceedings in the Middle District of Alabama and the Northern District of Georgia
- Other cases
- Federal charges in the Middle District of Alabama over an alleged threat to a federal judge, and state charges in Texas over harassing phone calls
- Plea
- None reported. No initial appearance in Georgia has been announced and no defense lawyer has been named
- Sources
- Three, from three separate owners: Atlanta News First (Gray Television), WSB-TV (Cox Media Group) and AccessNorthGA (Jacobs Media)
- What is Brandon Scroggins charged with?
- What do prosecutors say Scroggins told the Barrow County District Attorney’s Office?
- What did the voicemail left at Judge Nicholas Primm’s chambers allegedly say?
- Do the accounts agree on when the calls were placed?
- What was happening in Barrow County Superior Court on July 30, 2026?
- How has the case moved, date by date?
- Who is investigating, and what have federal officials said?
- What other charges does Scroggins face, and where is he now?
- What happened at Apalachee High School on Sept. 4, 2024?
- What does it mean that Scroggins is charged and not convicted?
- Who has reported this?
- What is not known yet?
- What else are people asking about the Brandon Scroggins case?
What is Brandon Scroggins charged with?
A Texas man is facing a federal charge in Georgia over what Atlanta News First described as graphic death threats aimed at a Barrow County judge and at the prosecutors who handled the Apalachee High School shooting cases, Atlanta News First reported.
The charges were announced by federal prosecutors in the Northern District of Georgia, and name Brandon Dontrail Scroggins, 39, of Abilene, Texas. WSB-TV reported that the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia announced the charges on Wednesday, and that the office says the threats were made on the day Colin Gray was sentenced.
The charge itself is transmitting interstate communications containing threats to injure another person. AccessNorthGA reported, relaying U.S. Attorney Theodore Hertzberg’s office, that Scroggins was charged in a criminal complaint on Aug. 7, 2026. Atlanta News First puts an arrest on that same date and gives the charge in shorter form as transmitting interstate threats to injure another person.
WSB-TV, in its own voice, describes Scroggins as a convicted felon from Texas. That characterisation is the station’s; no criminal history for Scroggins is set out by any of the three accounts.
Scroggins has been charged and not convicted. Everything below that describes what he is alleged to have said comes from prosecutors, from the U.S. Attorney’s office or from the criminal complaint, and it is attributed to them line by line.
What do prosecutors say Scroggins told the Barrow County District Attorney’s Office?
Two calls, according to prosecutors, and the second one a voicemail.
On the first, prosecutors say Scroggins called the Barrow County District Attorney’s Office and told a receptionist he was coming to “take out” Barrow County. Atlanta News First gives his stated reason as “injustice”; AccessNorthGA, working from Hertzberg’s office, renders it as purported injustice.
On the second, Hertzberg’s office says Scroggins rang the district attorney’s office a second time and left a voicemail that threatened to come to Georgia and hurt staff there and their children. Atlanta News First carries the same allegation, attributes it to prosecutors, and adds that the callback came minutes later.
No employee of the district attorney’s office is named in any of the three accounts, and the receptionist is not identified.
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What did the voicemail left at Judge Nicholas Primm’s chambers allegedly say?
The third call, prosecutors say, went to the chambers of Barrow County Superior Court Judge Nicholas Primm, and it is the one the criminal complaint quotes most directly.
Atlanta News First reports, citing the complaint, that Scroggins then immediately called Primm’s chambers and left a voicemail for the judge’s assistant. In it, prosecutors say, he told her to distance herself from the judge and said that “a death date just came up for Nicholas Primm” and that the judge and “everything he loves” is “dead.”
AccessNorthGA gives the same voicemail in almost the same words: that Scroggins left a voicemail stating “a death date just came up for Nicholas Primm,” and that in it he told Primm’s assistant to separate herself from the judge because Primm and “everything he love[s]” is “dead.” Atlanta News First renders the same phrase without brackets, as “everything he loves.”
The judge’s assistant is not named by any of the three accounts.
Do the accounts agree on when the calls were placed?
On the date, yes. On the hour, no — and the difference is not a small one.
All three accounts put the calls on July 30, 2026. Atlanta News First attributes that date to court records; AccessNorthGA attributes it to Hertzberg’s office.
Where they part company is the sequence relative to the hearing itself. Atlanta News First reports that authorities said the threats began early that morning. AccessNorthGA, relaying the U.S. Attorney’s office directly, opens its account of the calls with the words “After the sentencing took place.”
Those two statements cannot both be a full description of the same morning, and neither outlet addresses the other. The Local Alert is not merging them, is not picking one, and is not inferring a clock time from either. What is established across all three accounts is the date: July 30, 2026.
What was happening in Barrow County Superior Court on July 30, 2026?
Judge Primm was sentencing Colin Gray, the father of Apalachee High School shooter Colt Gray. AccessNorthGA reports, from Hertzberg’s office, that Primm presided over the hearing that day and that Colin Gray was sentenced to 15 years in prison for allowing his son access to the weapon used.
Atlanta News First adds what the sentence was measured against: Colin Gray was facing up to 180 years in prison had the maximum been imposed for all of the charges.
Primm explained the gap from the bench, according to Atlanta News First. He said the decision was difficult because all of the charges were for criminal negligence, because Colin Gray had no intention to commit a crime, and because he did not have foreknowledge of his son’s attack.
He was not gentle about it. “You failed as a parent,” Primm told Colin Gray, stressing that securing the firearms at the family home would have stopped the shooting. Atlanta News First reports that Primm returned again and again to the names of those killed and injured.
Heads up on one point that is easy to run together: these were two hearings for two different people. A pool photograph carried by WSB-TV is captioned from Colt Gray’s sentencing hearing at Barrow County Superior Court in Winder on Tuesday, July 28, 2026. The sentencing at the centre of this case is Colin Gray’s, on July 30, 2026. Our earlier report on the son’s sentencing is here: Apalachee High School shooting: Colt Gray sentenced to life without parole in Winder, GA.
How has the case moved, date by date?
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| Wed., Sept. 4, 2024 | The Apalachee High School shooting in Winder. Four people were killed and nine others injured. |
| Tue., July 28, 2026 | Colt Gray’s sentencing hearing at Barrow County Superior Court in Winder, per the caption on a pool photograph carried by WSB-TV. He is serving life without the possibility of parole. |
| Thu., July 30, 2026 | Judge Nicholas Primm presides over Colin Gray’s sentencing and imposes 15 years. Prosecutors say the calls to the district attorney’s office and to Primm’s chambers were placed this day. |
| Fri., Aug. 7, 2026 | Scroggins is charged in a criminal complaint with transmitting interstate communications containing threats to injure another person, Hertzberg’s office says. Atlanta News First reports he was arrested this day. |
| Wed., Aug. 19, 2026 | The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia announces the charge. Scroggins is in U.S. Marshals Service custody in Texas awaiting transport. |
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Who is investigating, and what have federal officials said?
The Federal Bureau of Investigation. AccessNorthGA reports that the case remains under investigation by the FBI — the only one of the three accounts to identify the investigating agency or to say the investigation is still open.
Two federal officials are quoted by name.
U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg, in a statement carried by WSB-TV: “Scroggins allegedly threatened violence against the prosecutors and judge who were tasked with meting out justice for individuals responsible for the horrific mass shooting that claimed four innocent lives at Apalachee High School. Public servants deserve to work free of intimidation, and anyone who threatens to harm them will be prosecuted.”
Marlo Graham, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta, in a statement carried by AccessNorthGA: “Our justice system depends on the ability of prosecutors and judges to make their decisions based on the law, and not on fear. The FBI has zero tolerance for those trying to intimidate public servants from doing their jobs.”
Both statements keep the allegation in the conditional. Hertzberg’s says “allegedly” in its first clause.
What other charges does Scroggins face, and where is he now?
Georgia is not the only jurisdiction with a case against him. Hertzberg’s office says Scroggins also faces federal charges in the Middle District of Alabama for allegedly threatening a federal judge, and state charges in Texas over harassing phone calls. Atlanta News First reports the same two matters, describing the Texas case as state harassment charges.
Beyond their existence, nothing has been released about either case — no court, no case number, no filing date, no named judge in the Alabama matter.
As of the announcement, Scroggins is being held in the custody of the United States Marshals Service in Texas. AccessNorthGA reports he is awaiting transport for further proceedings in both the Middle District of Alabama and the Northern District of Georgia. Atlanta News First reports the same custody status and that he is awaiting transport. No date for that transport has been released.
What happened at Apalachee High School on Sept. 4, 2024?
Four people were killed and nine others were injured in a mass shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder on Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024. Atlanta News First and AccessNorthGA give the same counts.
The four killed were teachers Cristina Irimie and Ricky Aspinwall and 14-year-old students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, Atlanta News First reports.
Colt Gray is now serving life in prison without the possibility of parole for the shooting. His father, Colin Gray, was sentenced separately on July 30, 2026 to 15 years. Coverage of the son’s case is collected on our Barrow County page, and Georgia court and criminal cases are on our Crime & Courts page.
What does it mean that Scroggins is charged and not convicted?
Brandon Dontrail Scroggins has been charged, not convicted. A criminal complaint is a charging document. It sets out what prosecutors say they can prove; it does not establish that anything in it happened.
Every quotation attributed to Scroggins on this page — the “take out” call, the voicemail about travelling to Georgia, the “death date” voicemail left at Judge Primm’s chambers — is an allegation made by the U.S. Attorney’s office or contained in the criminal complaint. None of it has been tested in court.
He is entitled to the presumption of innocence unless and until he is proven guilty.
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Who has reported this?
Three newsrooms with three separate owners, which is unusually well-covered ground for a story of this size.
Atlanta News First (WANF, Gray Television) published at 11:19 a.m. ET on Aug. 19, 2026 under the byline of Tim Darnell, and updated the story later the same day. It is the account that cites the criminal complaint directly and the one that carries Judge Primm’s remarks from the Colin Gray sentencing.
WSB-TV (Cox Media Group) published at 11:46 a.m. ET on Aug. 19, 2026 under the byline of Courtney Martinez, and labels the piece a developing story. It is the account carrying U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg’s statement in full.
AccessNorthGA (Jacobs Media, Gainesville) published at noon ET on Aug. 19, 2026 under the byline of Lawson Smith. It is the account working most closely from the U.S. Attorney’s own release: nearly every assertion in it is expressly attributed to Hertzberg’s office, and it is the only one of the three to name the FBI as the investigating agency, to say the investigation remains open, and to quote FBI Atlanta Special Agent in Charge Marlo Graham.
Gray Television, Cox Media Group and Jacobs Media are three separate owners, so the core of this story — the name, the age, the hometown, the charge, the date and the two targets — is corroborated three ways rather than repeated from one newsroom.
What is not known yet?
- Whether Scroggins has entered a plea. No plea has been reported, and no initial appearance in the Northern District of Georgia has been announced.
- Whether he has a lawyer. No defense lawyer of record for Scroggins has been named.
- What the charge carries. No maximum penalty for transmitting interstate communications containing threats to injure another person has been released.
- When he will be moved. He is in U.S. Marshals Service custody in Texas awaiting transport for proceedings in two federal districts, and no transport date has been released.
- The sequence of the calls on July 30. Atlanta News First reports authorities said the threats began early that morning; AccessNorthGA, relaying the U.S. Attorney’s office, places them after the sentencing. Neither addresses the other, and no clock time for any of the three calls has been released.
- The Alabama case. Its existence is on the record — federal charges in the Middle District of Alabama over an alleged threat to a federal judge — and nothing else about it is.
- The Texas state case. Same posture: state charges over harassing phone calls, with no court, no filing date and no case number released.
- Any prior record. WSB-TV describes Scroggins as a convicted felon. No conviction, court or date supporting that description appears in any of the three accounts.
- Whether anyone else was targeted. The three calls described by prosecutors are the whole of what has been released.
What else are people asking about the Brandon Scroggins case?
What is Brandon Scroggins charged with?
Brandon Dontrail Scroggins, 39, of Abilene, Texas, is charged with transmitting interstate communications containing threats to injure another person. Federal prosecutors in the Northern District of Georgia announced the charge on Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2026. U.S. Attorney Theodore Hertzberg's office says the charge was filed in a criminal complaint on Aug. 7, 2026. Scroggins has been charged and not convicted, and every allegation in this case comes from prosecutors and from the criminal complaint.
Who is Judge Nicholas Primm?
Nicholas Primm is a Barrow County Superior Court judge in Winder, Georgia. He presided over the July 30, 2026 sentencing of Colin Gray, the father of Apalachee High School shooter Colt Gray, and sentenced Colin Gray to 15 years in prison. Prosecutors say Primm and the Barrow County District Attorney's Office were the targets of the threats Scroggins is charged with transmitting.
What do prosecutors say Brandon Scroggins told the Barrow County District Attorney's Office?
Prosecutors say Scroggins called the Barrow County District Attorney's Office and told a receptionist he was coming to "take out" Barrow County over what he claimed was injustice. U.S. Attorney Theodore Hertzberg's office says he then rang the office a second time and left a voicemail that threatened to come to Georgia and hurt staff there and their children. Atlanta News First reports that prosecutors say the second call came minutes after the first. These are allegations against a man who has been charged and not convicted.
What did the voicemail left at Judge Nicholas Primm's chambers allegedly say?
According to the criminal complaint, Scroggins called Judge Primm's chambers and left a voicemail for the judge's assistant. Prosecutors say he told the assistant to distance herself from the judge, said that "a death date just came up for Nicholas Primm," and said the judge and "everything he loves" is "dead," in Atlanta News First's rendering; AccessNorthGA renders the same two phrases as separate herself and "everything he love[s]." Scroggins has been charged and not convicted, and no court has found that he made those statements.
When did the alleged threats happen?
On July 30, 2026. Atlanta News First, citing court records, and U.S. Attorney Theodore Hertzberg's office, by way of AccessNorthGA, both place the calls on that date, which is the day Judge Nicholas Primm sentenced Colin Gray in Barrow County Superior Court. The two accounts do not agree on where the calls fall relative to the hearing. Atlanta News First reports that authorities said the threats began early that morning. AccessNorthGA, relaying the U.S. Attorney's office, says the calls came after the sentencing took place. The Local Alert is not choosing between the two.
Who is investigating the Brandon Scroggins case?
The Federal Bureau of Investigation. AccessNorthGA reports that the case remains under investigation by the FBI. Marlo Graham, the Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta, said: "Our justice system depends on the ability of prosecutors and judges to make their decisions based on the law, and not on fear. The FBI has zero tolerance for those trying to intimidate public servants from doing their jobs."
What other charges does Brandon Scroggins face?
Two other matters. U.S. Attorney Theodore Hertzberg's office says Scroggins faces federal charges in the Middle District of Alabama for allegedly threatening a federal judge, and state charges in Texas over harassing phone calls. Nothing beyond the existence of those two cases has been released about either one.
Where is Brandon Scroggins being held?
In the custody of the United States Marshals Service in Texas. AccessNorthGA reports he is awaiting transport for further proceedings in the Middle District of Alabama and the Northern District of Georgia. No date for that transport has been released.
Has Brandon Scroggins entered a plea, and does he have a lawyer?
Neither has been reported. No plea and no initial appearance in the Northern District of Georgia has been announced, and no lawyer of record for Scroggins has been named.
Is Brandon Scroggins from Georgia?
No. Scroggins is 39 and from Abilene, Texas. WSB-TV describes him as a convicted felon from Texas. Prosecutors say the threats he is charged with transmitting included a threat to travel to Georgia.
What was the Colin Gray sentencing that Judge Primm handled on July 30, 2026?
Colin Gray is the father of Apalachee High School shooter Colt Gray. Judge Nicholas Primm sentenced him on July 30, 2026 to 15 years in prison, a sentence U.S. Attorney Theodore Hertzberg's office describes as being for allowing his son access to the weapon used. Atlanta News First reports that Colin Gray was facing as much as 180 years had the maximum been imposed on every count, and that Primm told him from the bench, "You failed as a parent."
Who was killed in the Apalachee High School shooting?
Four people were killed at Apalachee High School in Winder on Sept. 4, 2024: teachers Cristina Irimie and Ricky Aspinwall and 14-year-old students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo. Nine others were injured. Colt Gray is serving life in prison without the possibility of parole.
More Winder and Barrow County reports are collected on our Barrow County page, and Georgia court and criminal cases are on our Crime & Courts page. Directly related earlier coverage: Apalachee High School shooting: Colt Gray sentenced to life without parole in Winder, GA, the case Judge Nicholas Primm and the Barrow County District Attorney’s Office handled.
Sources
- Atlanta News First (WANF, Gray Television) — “Texas man charged with threatening Apalachee shooting judge, prosecutors,” by Tim Darnell, published 11:19 a.m. ET on Aug. 19, 2026 and updated later the same day. Carries the July 30, 2026 date attributed to court records, the criminal complaint’s account of the voicemail left at Judge Primm’s chambers, the Aug. 7 arrest, the Alabama and Texas cases, and Judge Primm’s remarks at the Colin Gray sentencing.
- WSB-TV (Cox Media Group) — “Felon charged with threats against Barrow County judge, DA’s office over Apalachee shooting case,” by Courtney Martinez, published 11:46 a.m. ET on Aug. 19, 2026 and labelled a developing story. Carries U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg’s statement in full, the attribution of the announcement to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia, and a pool photograph captioned from Colt Gray’s July 28, 2026 sentencing hearing at Barrow County Superior Court in Winder.
- AccessNorthGA (Jacobs Media, Gainesville) — “Texas man faces federal charges for threatening Barrow County Judge, District Attorney’s Office,” by Lawson Smith, published noon ET on Aug. 19, 2026. Working from the U.S. Attorney’s release: the Aug. 7 criminal complaint and the full charge language, that Judge Primm presided over the July 30 sentencing, that Colin Gray’s 15 years was for allowing his son access to the weapon used, that the calls came after the sentencing, that the FBI is investigating and the case remains open, and FBI Atlanta Special Agent in Charge Marlo Graham’s statement.
Compiled by The Local Alert Georgia Staff from the three sources linked above, which have three separate owners — Gray Television, Cox Media Group and Jacobs Media. Brandon Dontrail Scroggins has been charged and not convicted; every allegation described here is attributed to federal prosecutors, to U.S. Attorney Theodore Hertzberg’s office or to the criminal complaint. Atlanta News First and AccessNorthGA place the alleged calls at different points relative to the July 30, 2026 sentencing hearing, and that difference is reported here rather than resolved.
Reported and fact-checked as of .
Every source linked here was opened and verified at that time. This report reflects what was known and confirmed at that moment and is not updated automatically as a story develops. For the current status of an active investigation, contact the agency named above.
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