Suburban man gets 37 months in prison for threatening violence at Biden inauguration

Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman speaks during the inauguration of U.S. President-elect Joe Biden on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol on January 20, 2021 in Washington, DC. During today's inauguration ceremony Joe Biden becomes the 46th president of the United States. Photo credit Rob Carr/Getty Images

By WBBM Newsradio Staff Report

(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — A Chicago Heights man who pleaded guilty to threatening violence at President Joe Biden's inauguration has been sentenced to more than three years in prison.

Louis Capriotti has been in federal custody since January 2020 and will receive credit for the time he's already served behind bars.

The 47-year-old pleaded guilty last fall to a federal charge of transmitting a threat in interstate commerce, federal prosecutors said.

Authorities say he left a Dec. 29, 2020 voicemail for a U.S. House member, saying if certain individuals “think that Joe Biden is going to put his hand on the Bible and walk into that [expletive] White House on January 20th, they’re sadly [expletive] mistaken.”

Capriotti allegedly added: “We will surround the [expletive] White House and we will kill any [expletive] Democrat that steps on the [expletive] lawn.”

U.S. District Judge Ronald A. Guzman imposed a 37-month sentence on Caprioti Tuesday.

“Capriotti’s crime was a serious offense,” Assistant U.S. Attorney James P. Durkin argued in a sentencing filing. “Such threats must be taken seriously because they have real implications for the victims receiving them.”