A California man is accused of stalking and threatening Elizabeth Nunes, the wife of California Rep. Devin Nunes.
William Joseph Burden threatened and harassed Elizabeth, who is an elementary school teacher, according to a misdemeanor criminal complaint filed on Aug. 13. The criminal complaint detailed how Burden allegedly “unlawfully” called Elizabeth with “obscene language” and threats against her, her family, and their property.
Burden was not arrested because of restrictions associated with the coronavirus pandemic but has been ordered to appear before a judge, according to the Daily Wire, which confirmed that “E.N.” in the brief criminal complaint refers to Elizabeth Nunes.
The office of Devin Nunes, who represents California’s 22nd Congressional District, told the outlet that the threats to his wife included threatening and lewd messages about her and their children. Similar messages were sent to the school where she teaches third grade, which was confirmed by Sundale Union Elementary School District Superintendent Terri Rufert, who thanked federal authorities for handling the case.
“We would like to thank the U.S. Capitol Police, the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office, and the Tulare County District Attorney for taking action to protect our students and teachers. We take threats aimed at our school and our kids seriously. We will not tolerate any form of harassment or stalking directed at any of our students or teachers,” Rufert said.
Devin Nunes, who is the top Republican of the House Intelligence Committee, thanked “the investigators in the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office and in the District Attorney’s office as well as the Capitol Police” for their investigation and vowed that all future threats against his family would be “turned over to the proper authorities.”
According to the report, Nunes’s office said that it would like the FBI to determine if Burden sent all the messages and whether he was coordinating with anyone.
Devin Nunes has said a stream of troubling calls and emails to his family and school district began after an activist from the left-wing group Southern California Americans for Democratic Action, Michael Seeley, obtained Elizabeth’s work emails through a California Public Records Act request and released them online in 2018.
