The New York man accused of stalking Escambia County Clerk of Court Pam Childers and firebombing the wrong car to allegedly threaten and extort money from her is accused of setting fire to two other vehicles, according to the federal government, and he must undergo a mental health examination to determine competency.
The trial for suspected arsonist Justin Wright was scheduled to begin Jan. 5, 2026, but it has been canceled, and a new trial date has not been filed.
According to court records in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, Pensacola Division, Wright will undergo a psychiatric or psychological examination by the Bureau of Prisons to determine competency—essentially a defendant’s ability to understand court proceedings and participate in their own defense.
A motion for sealing Wright’s mental competency examination was also granted Dec. 9 by Judge M. Casey Rodgers at the request of Wright’s attorney on the ground that the motion “contains information regarding the defendant’s mental health condition.”
On Dec. 5, Assistant United States Attorney David Goldberg also filed a notice that the government intends to introduce evidence of other crimes allegedly committed by Wright including that on or about Aug. 29, 2024, he committed the offense of arson upon a vehicle in Suffolk County, New York, and on or about Feb. 23, 2025, the he committed the offense of arson upon a vehicle in Nassau County, New York.
No other details of those alleged crimes were provided in the court document, but Wright is from Bay Shore, New York, a community located on Long Island, within the town of Islip, in Suffolk County.
Before he was extradited to Pensacola last year, Wright was arrested by New York City Police on July 3, 2025, for an incident that happened on June 29, but requests for those public records were denied because it’s an ongoing investigation.
What charges Justin Wright faces
According to federal court documents, 35-year-old Justin J. Wright of Bay Shore, New York is charged with three felony counts: cyberstalking, attempted interstate extortion of a public official, and use of fire to commit a federal felony offense.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested Wright, 35, last fall after he was indicted for stalking, attempted interference with commerce by threats or violence, and use of fire to commit a felony.
In court documents, the U.S. Government said on or about March 1, 2024, and on or about June 1, 2024, Wright utilized interstate travel with the “intent to kill, injure, harass, and intimidate” Childers and engage in conduct that placed her, as well as an immediate family member and a spouse and intimate partner of Childers “in reasonable fear of death and serious bodily injury.”
The arrest came more than a year after the FBI began investigating an arson incident that happened near Childers’ Cordova Park home on June 1, 2024, that destroyed a neighbor’s car.
Police investigate arson caused to a car in Cordova Park near the home of Escambia Clerk and Comptroller Pam Childers on Saturday, June 1, 2024.
Wright has pleaded not guilty to the charges, but a judge determined during his detention hearing on Sept. 26, 2025, that Wright should remain in custody until his trial because he “poses a serious risk of harm to others if released.”
The federal government said Wright had been living in a motel in New York for the past year or two, and he wasn’t welcome to stay with his mother, who also lives in New York, due to “ongoing mental health issues” and a history of not taking his medications as prescribed.
Assistant United States Attorney David Goldberg also said a note was found at the scene of the firebombed vehicle that said “Send the money back or die.”
Goldberg said evidence shows the car had been deliberately torched, and investigators and Childers believe she was the “intended target” even though the wrong car was burned.
Goldberg said Wright had searched for and stored information about Childers and her family and that several hours before the June 1 car bomb, Wright queried Google regarding capital punishment and murder, including wanting to know the difference between first-, second- and third-degree murder.
The prosecutor said Wright was also using Google to search for Childers’ address an hour before the fire.
“He is the one Google account on the planet in the hour leading up to the crime that was searching for Childers’ address,” Goldberg said at the detention hearing.
Childers involved in ‘public litigation’ when threatened
Bruce and Pam Childers arrive on at the U.S. Court House in downtown Pensacola on Sept. 23, 2025.
Goldberg said Childers lived nearby in the same Cordova Park neighborhood and was involved in public litigation involving funds around the time she received the death threat.
The prosecutor did not specifically mention which litigation he was referencing, but on April 3, 2024, about two months before the car bomb, an Okaloosa County judge ruled that Escambia County’s local option retirement plan for county commissioners was unlawful compensation.
Judge William Stone upheld Escambia County Clerk and Comptroller Pam Childers’ decision to withhold payments after Escambia County sued Childers to force her to authorize payments.
Wright to undergo mental health eval: ‘Send the money back or die’: Feds reveal death threat in Pam Childers arson case
As for Wright’s case, few details of the alleged acts are given because the affidavit and arrest warrant were sealed by the judge at the request of the prosecution.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office filed a motion saying the details underlying the case need to stay under wraps to protect the interest of the “long-term investigation into violent offenses” and the safety of those involved because “the main subject of the investigation is not yet in custody.”
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Escambia Clerk Pam Childers alleged stalker Justin Wright trial delay