A man was sentenced Friday for threatening to behead Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Cook County, Illinois, Prosecutor Kim Foxx.
Paul Vernon Hoeffer, of Florida, was sentenced in federal court to 18 months in prison and three years of supervised release for threats made in 2019 and 2020, according to NBC News. Hoeffer pled guilty in January to three counts of interstate transmission of threats to kidnap or injure.
A Florida man was sentenced to 18 months in prison for menacing phone calls in which he threatened to behead House Speaker Pelosi and Rep. Ocasio-Cortez. https://t.co/Xr1Cv7tBpp
— NBC News (@NBCNews) April 1, 2022
Hoeffer first called Pelosi and told her office that he would “come a long, long way to rattle her head with bullets” and threatened to cut off her head “jihadist-style,” NBC News reported
U.S. Capitol Police warned Hoeffer that making threats is illegal, reported NBC News. (RELATED: Georgia Man Arrested After Threatening To Shoot Nancy Pelosi In A Text Message)
“You know how hard it is to prove someone made a threat?” Hoeffer responded to Capitol Police.
Hoeffer threatened to kill Foxx in a series of voicemails, NBC News reported. He also left a message with Ocasio-Cortez’s office threatening to decapitate her.
The FBI then tracked down Hoeffer, went to his home, and told him to stop making the threats, NBC News reported. Hoeffer apologized and said he would stop making the threats.
“Defendant, someone who represents himself as gainfully employed, a hardworking individual with various responsibilities in life, found time to call women to tell them he was going to shoot them in the head, or cut their heads off, and that they were going to die. And he did not do it once, but multiple times on multiple days,” prosecutors said, reported NBC News.
“Mr. Hoeffer acknowledges his wrongdoing and is respectfully requesting leniency and mercy,” Hoeffer’s lawyer said in court documents, according to NBC News.