Man sentenced for threatening Vancouver officer

March 04--A Vancouver man was sentenced on Thursday to more than a year in prison related to threats he made to kill a Vancouver police officer, bomb Clark County buildings and bomb the White House.

Nikolay I. Kalachik, 27, pleaded guilty in Clark County Superior Court to intimidating a witness as part of a plea bargain negotiated between Senior Deputy Prosecutor Kasey Vu and Kalachik's attorney, Todd Pascoe. In exchange for the guilty plea, Vu dismissed charges of threats to bomb, harassment death threats, and a second count of intimidating a witness.

Kalachik admitted, through a Russian interpreter, that on Oct. 1 he intimidated Vancouver police Officer Ilia Botvinnik by saying in a recorded jail phone call that "I'll have him sleep in a bulletproof vest for the rest of his life." He also admitted to making other threats over the phone.

There was no indication in court records that Kalachik attempted to act on any of the threats.

Judge Suzan Clark sentenced Kalachik to 171/2 months in prison, 12 months of probation and $2,300 in court fines and fees.

Kalachik made the phone threats while he was serving 90 days in the Clark County Jail for threatening Botvinnik when Botvinnik stopped him July 25 for driving without a seat belt. Botvinnik found out during the traffic stop that Kalachik also lacked a valid driver's license and insurance. Botvinnik attempted to give him a traffic citation, but Kalachik refused to accept it. Instead, Kalachik got out of his vehicle and confronted the officer.

"Do you know who you are messing with?" Kalachik said, according to a court affidavit. "I'm going to get my brigade, and then I'm coming after you."

Botvinnik then arrested him on suspicion of intimidating a public servant. During the drive to the jail, Kalachik told the officer: "You have no idea what you are doing right now. I will guarantee that you will regret this."

While he was in jail, he called his wife, Svetlana Kalachik, and made additional threats, including that he would give America another Boston, according to a court affidavit.

"I swear I will kill this cop (Botvinnik) right away," he said in an Oct. 19 conversation, according to the affidavit. "I'll take a weapon. I'm going to drive with a weapon. I will (expletive) kill him right away, if, God forbid, he crosses my path. I'll (expletive) kill everybody."

In another conversation on Oct. 22, he asked his wife to help him kill Americans, the affidavit states.

"Strap a bomb to yourself like those Arab women do and blow up the White House and Clark County," he told her, according to the affidavit.

"Are you totally crazy?" she replied.

"I will find who to strap it to," Kalachik continued, according to the affidavit. "They're (Americans) poking into Syria; they have no right to be there before my brothers. ... They think the prison will reform me, and I'll start following their damn laws. I'm not going to follow your laws, you (expletive, expletive), you Americans. I'm gonna send you all to hell. All of you (expletive), Americans, should die."

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