An Alaska man who threatened to kill the state's two U.S. senators in a series of voicemail messages last year pleaded guilty Monday to federal charges, prosecutors said.
Jay Allen Johnson, 65, of Delta Junction, pleaded guilty to two counts of threatening to murder a United States official in connection with voicemails left for Republican senators. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Alaska said each charge carries up to 10 years in prison.
A request for comment from Johnson's attorney was not immediately returned Tuesday afternoon.
Johnson left 17 threatening voicemails in all, prosecutors said.
Johnson admitted in a plea agreement that some of the voicemails threatened to kill or kill Murkowski and Sullivan.
The threats in court documents don't point to a clear motive. According to a criminal complaint, a message said he would burn the senator's property like antifa. Other messages threatened to use a 50-caliber firearm against the senators.
Johnson agreed to forfeit seven guns, which he is not allowed to own because of a past felony DUI conviction, according to court documents. He will be subject to protective orders that prohibits contact with either the lawmaker.
In 2021, the number of threats to members of Congress increased to around 9,600, according to U.S. Capitol Police Chief J. Thomas Manger.
There were more than 8,000 people in 2020, he said. The agency reported around 3,900 threats in 2017, according to a report by NBC News.
The number has gone up steadily each year, according to Manger at a Tuesday news conference.
Not all of the concerning statements made in phone calls, emails, and on social media or other forms rise to the level of crimes but are investigated, he said.
In the past month, federal judges handed down three-year prison sentences in cases involving threats to kill members of Congress.
A New York City man, Eduard Florea, was sentenced to almost three years in prison for online statements threatening to kill Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga.
Robert Lemke, a San Francisco area man, was sentenced to three years in prison for a number of threats that included the brother of U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N. Y. Journalists were also targeted.