Reno man charged in threats against Carson City judge after matching DNA confirmed

The man believed to be responsible for shooting at and attempting to firebomb the home of a Carson City judge and sending him a threatening Christmas card in the mail has been formally charged for the crimes, officials announced Tuesday.

Carson City District Attorney Jason Woodbury announced Reno area resident Jason Aston, 74, is charged with fourth-degree arson, aggravated stalking and discharging a firearm into an occupied dwelling. His bail is set at $250,000 cash.

A task force made up of multiple law agencies was created in the four-year investigation, involving thousands of hours to track down the suspect, who allegedly began his reign of threats on the judge beginning Dec. 11, 2012, shooting up the front door to the judge's home.

Aston has been in custody at the Carson City Jail since February on a weapons charge and was identified as the person of interest in the case last week after contact trace DNA tests linked him to, among other things, a Christmas card and envelope sent to the judge in 2014 that contained a death threat, and DNA on milk containers, match sticks and plastic milk jug rings used in the May 2015 attempted fire bombing of the judge’s home.

Aston had appeared twice before Judge Tatro, once in 2005 for a traffic citation and in 2011 for a concealed weapons charge, according to Carson City Sheriff Ken Furlong.

The break in the case came when law enforcement was alerted to Aston as he was being been treated at Reno's VA Hospital under a different name. A fully credentialed Federal Police Officer from the VA contacted authorities after Aston made comments about Tatro and his dislike for Tatro, had firearms on him at the hospital and carried newspaper articles with him about the Tatro case.

The tip led Carson City investigators, led by detective Samuel Hatley and Nevada Division of Investigations Detective Desiree Mattice, to more evidence, including a storage unit in his name with a 1986 Mercedes Benz sedan similar to the one captured briefly on a security camera, along with firearms and explosive material.

This is a developing story. Follow www.carsonnow.org for this, and other Northern Nevada news.