Man idolized Va. Tech shooter, U.S. says

ROANOKE, Va., March 30 (UPI) -- U.S. prosecutors say they are getting ready to try a Nevada man whom they contend idolized Virginia Tech mass killer Cho Seung-hui.

Authorities say a Roanoke, Va., trial is set for April 28 for Johnmarlo Balasta Napa, 27, of Henderson, Nev., who allegedly sent threatening e-mail messages to two Virginia Tech students who had arguments with Cho before his April 2007 rampage, in which he killed 32 people before killing himself, The Washington Post reported.

Prosecutors allege Napa's e-mail included a picture of Cho holding paper dolls adorned with the faces of two students he killed and that Napa possessed 13 guns of the same type used by Cho.

Napa, whose attorney says used to work in U.S. Air Force intelligence, has been held without bail since last April and could face up to 10 years in prison, the Post said.

Napa was only "initiating a discussion on causes of school violence," his lawyer says, but former Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agent Bart McEntire told the newspaper the man's behavior is "very much similar to persons who have committed violent school shootings in the past."