8 More Charges Filed in Johnny Carson Case

Eight additional felony charges have been filed against a Milwaukee man accused of trying to extort $5 million from entertainer Johnny Carson, officials said Thursday.

Ken Orville Gause, 36, was charged in Burbank Municipal Court on Wednesday with four counts of making terrorist threats and four more of sending threatening letters to Carson, Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert L. Cohen said.

Gause earlier pleaded not guilty to one charge of making terrorist threats and one charge of sending threatening letters to the television talk show host.

Gause was arrested Dec. 6 when he showed up at the NBC studios in Burbank demanding to see Carson, police said. Network security guards apprehended Gause, who was armed with a sock filled with gravel.

Cohen said he decided to file the additional charges after reviewing evidence he had not previously examined.

Gause, who sent many letters and tapes to the network, including one in which he allegedly threatened to blow up the studios, had been the subject of an investigation by Burbank police detectives since early 1987, Sgt. Don Goldberg said.

Gause was being held in Los Angeles County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bail, Cohen said. A preliminary hearing was scheduled for Jan. 18.

If convicted on all charges, Gause faces a maximum sentence of eight years in prison, Cohen said.