A college student from New Hampshire pleaded guilty on Thursday to making threats to kill a member of Congress after growing enraged while drunkenly watching videos on the video-sharing app TikTok.
Allan Poller, 24, is a student at Keene State College in New Hampshire. He made a call to Washington. D.C. office of an unnamed House member on Mar. 29, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said in a press release.
When Mr. Gaetz played the voicemail he received, Mr. Poller’s name appeared on the caller ID. Mr. Gaetz stated that the individual had called his office to threaten him.
According to the DOJ, Mr. Poller left a voicemail warning the congressman to stop “coming for the gays,” or he would resort to violence. He also spelled out his full name and phone number in the voicemail.
“We will kill you if that’s what it takes. I will take a bullet to your [expletive] head if you [expletive] with my rights anymore. And then if you want to keep going down that path, you know who’s next,” he said in the voicemail.
Mr. Poller was taken into custody on April 3. He later admitted to placing the call and leaving the message. The defendant told authorities that he had been drinking and became angry while scrolling through TikTok.
Not the First Time
Mr. Gaetz has faced violent threats in the past. On Jan. 9, 2021, the congressman received a death threat from a California man, which came just days after the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.The man was identified as 59-year-old Eugune Huelsman from Thousand Oaks, California. He called Mr. Gaetz’s district office in Pensacola and left a voicemail threatening the politician to “watch his back.”
“I’m coming for him … I’m gonna [expletive] kill him. I’m gonna put a bullet in you, and I’m gonna put a bullet in one of your [expletive] kids too,” Mr. Huelsman said in the voicemail.
Mr. Huelsman pleaded guilty and was convicted and sentenced on one count of transmission of a threat in interstate commerce. The DOJ said that his six-month home confinement will be followed by five years of probation and a $10,000 fine.
While free speech is central to democracy, Mr. Coody said Mr. Huelsman’s threat via phone to kill Mr. Gaetz was “clearly unlawful,” particularly given he had been investigated for similar threats of violence.
Mr. Huelsman was also investigated for threatening a member of a former president’s family on social media.
“Today’s sentence acknowledges the defendant’s repeated threats of violence and should serve as a significant deterrent to those who would threaten violence against others rather than engage in lawful debate,” Mr. Coody said.
Sherri Onks, the special agent in charge of the FBI Jacksonville Division, said that Mr. Huelsman’s sentencing should serve as a warning to others that “words matter.”
“Everyone has the right to express their opinion, but when you harass, intimidate, and threaten violence against others, it’s a federal crime that will not be tolerated. The FBI and our law enforcement partners will work to hold you accountable.”
