An Oklahoma man pleaded guilty Wednesday to cyberstalking Rep. Kevin Hern, R-Okla., and threatening to kidnap and assault Hern and his wife, court papers show.
Keith Charles Eisenberger, 39, of Bartlesville, is expected to be sentenced to three years in prison for a long campaign of threats and harassment, according to the plea deal.
In a criminal complaint filed this year in the Northern District of Oklahoma, Eisenberger had a history of harassing politicians in the state and turned his focus to Hern after he took office in 2018.
In late 2018, Eisenberger called Hern's staff complaining that Hern's election was illegal and said, I will do everything I can to stop this, the complaint said. The threatening calls continued, and Eisenberger showed up at Hern's Washington, D.C. office later demanding to see him, according to the complaint. He also posted messages and videos on Facebook, where he threatened to put Hern in the hospital and said he wanted to drag him and his wife out of bed and arrest her.
In the plea agreement, the prosecutors and Eisenberger's attorney agreed that the sentencing guidelines call for 36 months in prison and 36 months of supervised release.
U.S. Attorney Clint Johnson said in a statement that his office and our law enforcement partners will not tolerate online threats of violence intended to intimidate elected officials or members of our community. The guilty plea comes weeks after a Seattle man, Brett Forsell, 49, was arrested and accused of yelling racist threats outside the home of Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., while armed with a handgun. Forsell has pleaded not guilty to felony stalking.
In June, an armed man was arrested near the home of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh after he called 911 on himself. When police detained him, the man said he was there to kill the justice. Nicholas John Roske, the suspect, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of attempted murder of a federal judge.