The man who was angry at the Chinese spy balloon has 4 years of probation for threatening former speaker McCarthy

Billings, Mont. – TO Montana man He was sentenced to four years of probation on Wednesday for threatening to assault the former president of the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, after annoying the Government for not knocking down a Chinese spy balloon that floated on the accused hometown.

Richard Rogers, 45, from Billings, He was convicted by a federal jury last year for charges of threatening a member of the Congress and making phone calls to the FBI and Congress staff. Routinely he made vulgar and obscene comments and reprimanded officials during calls.

The former telephone customer service representative delivered the threat of assault to an McCarthy employee during a series of more than 100 calls to the Republican speaker’s office in just 75 minutes on February 3, 2023, prosecutors said. That was a day after the Pentagon acknowledged that he was tracking the spy balloon, which was later Disabled on the Atlantic coast.

The threat against McCarthy had a maximum fine of six years in prison and a fine of $ 250,000.

Rogers declared in the trial that his calls outraged to the FBI and the McCarthy office were a form of civil disobedience. One of his lawyers said during the trial that Rogers “just wanted to be heard.”

Prosecutors had asked the Court to send a “strong deterrent message” that threats against public officials are not protected by the first amendment. They had requested a two -year sentence in prison.

“Rogers’ behavior in this case contributes to an ascending and worrying myth that the first amendment somehow gives a person a complete immunity of all consequences provided that their speech or conduct is framed as’ political protest ‘,” the prosecutors wrote in a judicial presentation.

Defensor lawyer Daniel Ball had asked Rogers to be saved from prison and sentenced to supervised liberation. Ball made reference to the violent actions of the supporters of President Donald Trump in the attack of January 6, 2021 against the United States Capitol and pointed out that many of them received shorter prison sentences of two years. Trump forgave the perpetrators after his second term began.

“The actions of some of these individuals may have been violent and atrocious. However, they were forgiven, ”Ball wrote in a presentation of the Court last week. “Richard’s behavior, as determined by the jury, happened in Montana. There was no imminent risk for any person. There was no imminent threat. “

Rogers has said that he supports Trump and was in Washington during the 2021 attack against Capitol but did not participate.

Threats against public officials in the United States have resurrected sharply in recent yearseven against Congress members, Your spouses, electoral workers and local officials. The Rogers case was one of the more than 8,000 threats to legislators investigated by the United States Capitol Police in 2023.

TO 30 -year -old billings He was sentenced last year to 2 1/2 years in the Federal Prison after leaving voicemail messages threatening to kill former United States Democratic Senator Jon Tester and his family. Another man from Montana He was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in 2023 for threats against the tester.