GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A Van Buren County man who left a threatening voice message to a Georgia congressman and admitted to making "all kinds of threats, all the time'' was sentenced to federal prison on Friday.
Martin Dale Osborn's actions represent “an escalating pattern of harassing calls,’’ a federal prosecutor said.
U.S. District Court Judge Paul Maloney sentenced Osborn to 12 months and 1 day in prison for threatening a federal official. He pleaded guilty to the charge in August.
Osborn was indicted in July for threatening U.S. Rep. Henry Johnson of Georgia. Osborn left a voicemail that referenced the democrat's “little bill for gun control’’ and a desire to be at Johnson's bedside "knocking the living s--- out of you.’’
“You Democrats go ahead and keep on playing around and get a civil war going in this country,’’ Osborn stated in a voicemail, according to a two-page indictment.
“Do you remember the Romans? What happened there when they had enough? Yeah, they killed their politicians and the lawyers. Keep pushing it boy.’’
Staff members of Johnson referred the threat to the U.S. Capitol Police, who alerted the FBI.
Osborn was arrested by an FBI agent in Bangor, Mich. The charge of threatening a federal official is punishable by up to six years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Investigators say Osborn has a ‘lengthy call history.’ When an FBI agent asked Osborn about making a threatening call to a congressman, Osborn responded: ‘Which one?’ court records show.
In March, he left a sexually explicit rant on the voicemail of U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va.
In April, U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., was the recipient. The voice message said in part: “We will come for you. See you soon, b----.”
“Osborn’s threat to Rep. Johnson was not a single instance, but rather the latest in an escalating pattern of harassing calls,’’ Assistant U.S. Attorney Nils R. Kessler wrote in a sentencing memorandum.
“Osborn may not have had the actual intent or means to carry out his threats, but his victims, the Capitol Police, and the FBI did not know that.’’
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