Northern California father sent to prison for threatening softball coaches, police sergeant

A Yuba County father on Monday was sentenced to 12 years and four months in prison for making criminal threats against his daughter’s softball coaches, one of his children’s friends and the Marysville police sergeant who arrested him two years ago.

Todd Andrew Tyler, 56, of Browns Valley, was sentenced in three separate criminal cases for using threats to “terrorize” people, the Yuba County District Attorney’s Office announced Tuesday in a news release.

“Todd Tyler acted the bully, using threats and fear to retaliate against people he believed had wronged him,” District Attorney Clint Curry said in the news release. “People deserve to feel safe in our community; Tyler took that away from children, coaches and even a police officer; he deserves every minute of his 12-year sentence.”

In February 2022, two coaches working for Marysville Joint Unified School District reported the threats to police. Tyler had left several threatening messages for both coaches on their phones, according to the Marysville Police Department.

Prosecutors said Tyler was angry at his daughter’s softball coaches for changing her position on the field.

Tyler left voice messages for a Marysville High School varsity softball coach, telling him he would “hunt him down and split his face open,” prosecutors said.

The father told an assistant coach to “watch his back,” because he was going to find him and “get some,” according to the District Attorney’s Office.

The threats, which also had racists overtones, were so specific that the coaches believed Tyler was coming for them, prosecutors said. The coaches considered canceling softball practice as they reported the threats to the police on Feb. 20, 2022.

The victims played the phone messages for officers. Police said the officers confirmed the messages had threats that contained racial slurs toward a Black coach and homophobic slurs.

Shortly before 7:30 a.m. on Feb. 22, 2022, officers pulled over Tyler near Highway 20 at East 22nd Street in Marysville. Tyler was taken into custody without incident. Police said officers searched Tyler’s vehicle and found a .45 caliber handgun with two loaded ammunition magazines in the center console.

As police investigated the threats against the coaches, officers learned of a past victim.

In July 2021, Tyler threatened one of his children’s friends over a dispute involving a vehicle. Prosecutors said the minor listened on a speaker phone as Tyler said “he had a gun and was going to hunt him down and kill him.”

His children’s friend, fearing retaliation, initially declined help from law enforcement. But he came forward after Tyler’s arrest in 2022.

Marysville Police Sgt. Herb Culver was among several officers who arrested Tyler two years ago. Prosecutors said Tyler later fixated on Culver, frequently driving slowly by Culver’s home in a rural area and staring at him.

“In May 2023, Culver was off-duty in his front yard during one of these incidents,” prosecutors said in the news release. “Tyler yelled at Culver that he was going to kill him and his wife.”

Tyler, on Aug. 15, pleaded no contest to making criminal threats and violating his probation. He remained in custody Tuesday at the Yuba County Jail as he awaits a transfer to a California prison.