Two women who appeared yesterday (Thursday) in federal court in Cedar Rapids are accused of sending threatening letters to local judges, just days after the family of an Illinois judge was found slain at her home. The letters from 68-year-old Marlys Floyd of Cedar Rapids and her daughter, 43-year-old Rebecca Pippert of Keystone, allegedly referred to those murders in the letters, and included the phrase “Be aware, be fair.” Richard Murphy is the criminal chief in the US Attorney’s office in the northern district of Iowa. The indictment charges the two women with mailing four letters that allegedly were threatening, to district court judges and an attorney in Cedar Rapids. Murphy read the indictment but didn’t have much background on the investigation that led to the arrest of the two women. They were arrested by deputies with the Linn County Sheriff’s Department, and inspectors with the Postal Inspection Service. Part of their release is a condition is that they will not contact several people, including the judges and people who were parties to a lawsuit in which Marlys Floyd had been involved. The two women could face up to five years in prison and a quarter-million dollars in fines, as they’re charged with a federal offense.