SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – A 22-year-old Pennsylvania man has been charged with threatening to kill a Bay Area Congressman, according to a release by the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Southern District of New York last week.
Joshua Hall pled guilty to threatening to kill Rep. Eric Swalwell. He was not named in the U.S. Attorney's Office release, but Swalwell tweeted the post and thanked the law enforcement agencies for their efforts in stopping the threats last week.
Hall called Swalwell's Bay Area office multiple times on Aug. 29 of this year from around Yonkers, New York. He then threatened to kill Swalwell to three different staff members.
In the calls, Hall claimed that he had a lot of AR-15 guns. He said he wanted to shoot Swalwell and storm the office with his guns.
Hall also said he wanted to "beat the shit" out of him and that he would find Swalwell wherever he was and hurt him.
"Joshua Hall made terrifying threats to the staff of a United States Congressman whom he disliked rather than attempting to effect change through any of the freedoms of expression that all Americans enjoy," said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams. "These threats of violence endanger our public officials and thwart common decency, which is why this Office will continue to prosecute crimes like those committed by Joshua Hall."
Hall has pled guilty to one count of making interstate communications with a threat to injure, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
He has already pled guilty to one count of wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, "for impersonating family members of the then-President of the United States on social media to fraudulently raise funds for a fictitious political organization," according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
When he threatened Swalwell, he was on pretrial release pending sentencing for the wire fraud. He was arrested the same day the threats were made.
He's pled guilty to the charges and will be sentenced on Dec. 8, 2022.
This comes just after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's San Francisco home was broken into and her husband was beaten by an intruder searching for her.
The intruder, who's been arrested and charged, is David DePape, 42. He allegedly planned to break Pelosi’s kneecaps.
He is facing multiple federal and state criminal charges.
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