A man who sent text messages suggesting he had plans to kill House Speaker Nancy Pelosi after the Capitol riot on Jan. 6 was sentenced to 28 months in prison.
Cleveland Meredith Jr., 53, who pleaded guilty to one count of interstate communication of threats, acknowledged wrongdoing and apologized for his actions during an appearance at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Tuesday.
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“I know what I did was wrong,” he said, according to NBC reporter Scott MacFarlane. “It was political hyperbole that was too hyper.”
The FBI received information Jan. 7 that he had sent text messages talking about killing Pelosi and tracked him down to a hotel in Washington, D.C., according to court documents. Later that day, when the agency questioned him and conducted a search, it discovered an assault rifle, a pistol, and hundreds of rounds of ammunition in Meredith’s trailer parked outside the hotel. Agents subsequently arrested him at the hotel, which was located less than a mile from the Capitol.
“Thinking about heading over to Pelosi C***’s speech and putting a bullet in her noggin on Live TV,” Meredith said in a text message, according to court documents.
During a text exchange before his arrest, someone texted him to express concern, to which he allegedly responded, “Lol, jus havin fun.” He also suggested he was high in his hotel room, according to the court documents.
He told officials that he planned to arrive in D.C. from Colorado on Jan. 5. He ended up arriving late and missed the rally on Jan. 6.
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Meredith will get credit for the 11 months he has spent in jail since his arrest, meaning he has about 14 more months left before he is released.
Friends of Meredith spoke during the hearing and said that he fell prey to QAnon conspiracy theories and believed the 2020 presidential election was illegitimate.
QAnon is a right-wing conspiracy theory that originated on 4chan message boards in October 2017 with posts by an anonymous person going by “Q,” who claimed to be a government official with a top-secret intelligence clearance. The user left a variety of unfounded claims about Donald Trump covertly battling a series of “deep state” plots and global conspiracies, including an alleged ring of sex traffickers that included Democratic politicians, business leaders, and Hollywood elites.
