A West Virginia man who sent emails to Dr. Anthony Fauci and other federal officials with threats to harm or even kill them has been sentenced to three years in federal prison.
For more than six months, Thomas Patrick Connally Jr. sent anonymous emails to Fauci, President Joe Biden’s top medical adviser, and other federal officials with threats to harm them and their family members, according to the Department of Justice. Connally admitted to sending the emails as a way to intimidate or interfere with their duties and retaliate against federal COVID-19 mandates.
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“Everyone has the right to disagree, but you do not have the right to threaten a federal official’s life,” said Erek L. Barron, U.S. attorney for the District of Maryland. “Threats like these will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
Connally was arrested in July 2021 after investigators linked him to the messages that were sent through an anonymous encrypted email account. Police also executed a search warrant at his home, recovering five laptops and two cellphones, officials said.
From December 2020 through July 2021, Connally sent several emails to Fauci with threats he would be “dragged into the street, beaten to death, and set on fire,” according to the DOJ. In one instance, Connally sent seven of these emails in less than two hours.
Additionally, the West Virginia resident admitted to sending emails to Dr. Francis Collins, who was the director of the National Institutes of Health at the time. In his messages, Connally threatened to attack Collins and her family if she did not stop promoting “mandatory” COVID-19 vaccinations, officials said.
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Connally continued to email other prominent health officials, including Dr. Rachel Levine, who was the secretary of health for the state of Pennsylvania at the time and now serves as the U.S. assistant secretary for health.
“Today’s sentencing shows that individuals threatening violence against federal officials and others will be held accountable for their crimes,” said Christian J. Schrank, deputy inspector general for investigations of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General. “The public, including public servants, deserve the utmost safety and the assurance that they can perform their duties without interference. Our agency, working closely with our law enforcement partners, will continue to bring those who threaten violence to justice.”
