Current:Home > NewsMan sentenced to over 1 year in prison for thousands of harassing calls to congressional offices-LoTradeCoin
Man sentenced to over 1 year in prison for thousands of harassing calls to congressional offices
View Date:2024-12-23 22:26:40
WASHINGTON (AP) — A former Maryland resident was sentenced on Tuesday to more than one year behind bars for making thousands of threatening and harassing telephone calls to dozens of congressional offices across the country, court records show.
Ade Salim Lilly’s telephone harassment campaign included approximately 12,000 telephone calls over the span of 19 months to more than 50 offices for members of Congress, according to prosecutors. They said Lilly threatened to kill a congressional staff member during one of the calls.
U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly sentenced Lilly to 13 months of incarceration followed by three years of supervised release, according to online court records.
Prosecutors recommended sentencing Lilly to 18 months of incarceration, arguing for a need to deter others from engaging in similarly threatening behavior. Capitol Police Chief J. Thomas Manger testified last year that threats against members of Congress had increased by approximately 400% over the previous six years.
“This is an election year, and more and more often, criticism of a political position or viewpoint crosses the First Amendment line and leads to true threats of violence,” prosecutors wrote. “The pervasive rise in threats against elected officials creates a real risk that expressions of violence will become normalized.”
Lilly pleaded guilty in May to two charges: one count of interstate communications with a threat to kidnap or injure and one count of making repeated telephone calls.
Lilly moved from Maryland to Puerto Rico during his harassment campaign, which lasted from roughly February 2022 until November 2023. He called one lawmaker’s Washington office more than 500 times over a two-day period in February 2023, prosecutors said.
veryGood! (87)
Related
- Smithfield agrees to pay $2 million to resolve child labor allegations at Minnesota meat plant
- Manufacturer recalls eyedrops after possible link to bacterial infections
- As the Livestock Industry Touts Manure-to-Energy Projects, Environmentalists Cry ‘Greenwashing’
- Allow Margot Robbie to Give You a Tour of Barbie's Dream House
- Sister Wives’ Kody Brown Explains His Stance on His Daughter Gwendlyn Brown’s Sexuality
- Watch a Florida man wrestle a record-breaking 19-foot-long Burmese python: Giant is an understatement
- We're Drunk in Love With Beyoncé and Jay-Z's Rare Date Night in Paris
- Twitter's new data access rules will make social media research harder
- Wreck of Navy destroyer USS Edsall known as 'the dancing mouse' found 80 years after sinking
- Indicators of the Week: tips, eggs and whisky
Ranking
- Georgia House Democrats shift toward new leaders after limited election gains
- This doctor wants to prescribe a cure for homelessness
- To all the econ papers I've loved before
- Panama Enacts a Rights of Nature Law, Guaranteeing the Natural World’s ‘Right to Exist, Persist and Regenerate’
- Jennifer Lopez Gets Loud in Her First Onstage Appearance Amid Ben Affleck Divorce
- The Pandemic Exposed the Severe Water Insecurity Faced by Southwestern Tribes
- Inside Clean Energy: Biden’s Climate Plan Shows Net Zero is Now Mainstream
- Florida’s Majestic Manatees Are Starving to Death
Recommendation
-
The Best Gifts for People Who Don’t Want Anything
-
Is Temu legit? Customers are fearful of online scams
-
Justice Dept to appeal length of prison sentences for Stewart Rhodes, Oath Keepers for Jan. 6 attack
-
Find 15 Gifts for the Reader in Your Life in This Book Lover Starter Pack
-
Vikings' Camryn Bynum celebrates game-winning interception with Raygun dance
-
Baby's first market failure
-
With COVID lockdowns lifted, China says it's back in business. But it's not so easy
-
If you got inflation relief from your state, the IRS wants you to wait to file taxes