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Florida Resident Admits Making Threatening Calls to US Senator, Pledging to Behead Him

US lawmakers often face threats via phone calls, letters, or in social media. Threatening a US government official is a felony under federal law, and could entail a lengthy prison sentence.
Sputnik

Brian Christopher King, 62, from Interlachen, Florida, has pleaded guilty to “transmitting communications in interstate commerce” with messages that contained threats of violence towards a lawmaker, whose name has not been revealed, the Justice Department said in a statement on Friday.

In March 2020, King, in one evening, twice reached a US senator’s office in Washington DC, according to the plea agreement.

“On both occasions, King left voicemails laced with profanity, threatening to cut off the senator’s head. Four days later, when interviewed by federal investigators, King agreed that it was his voice on a voicemail recording but denied any intent to travel to Washington or to harm anyone,” the release reads.

According to the statement, King drew police attention in 2018 for similar incident, only receiving a warning, without arrest. King, however, continued placing threatening telephone calls. In 2020, King “called a police department in California and stated that he had heard someone was going to cut the heads off a particular US senator and a particular member of the House of Representatives.”

The suspect has not yet been officially sentenced, but could face up to five years in federal prison.

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