US Man Gets 33 Months For Threatening Lawmakers For Not Backing Trump - Justice Dept.

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 02nd December, 2021) A New Hampshire man has been sentenced to 33 months in Federal prison for threatening to kill six members of US Congress and a state lawmaker, the Justice Department said in a press release.

"Ryder Winegar, 34, of Amherst, was sentenced to 33 months in federal prison for six counts of threatening members of Congress and one count of transmitting interstate threatening communications," the release said on Wednesday.

Winegar, who has been in custody since January and pleaded guilty on August 6, was also ordered to pay a $15,000 fine, the release said.

According to court documents and statements, in voice messages left at their offices in December of last year, Winegar threatened to hang the six members of Congress if they did not "get behind Donald Trump.

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The Justice Department said the US Capitol Police visited Winegar on December 20, 2020 to interview him but he refused to talk to them. The following day, Winegar fled to Brazil without his family, before investigators could return with search and arrest warrants.

Following Winegar's January arrest, investigators learned that on December 14, 2021, Winegar e-mailed a threat to a member of the New Hampshire State House of Representatives. Winegar threatened to drag the representative from his bed and hang him.