A Las Vegas man who made a series of antisemitic death threats against Senator Jacky Rosen, a Nevada Democrat who is Jewish, and also threatened her family and that of another senator was sentenced on Tuesday to nearly four years in prison, federal prosecutors said.
The man, John Anthony Miller, 44, left numerous violent and ranting voice mail messages on Ms. Rosen’s office phone between Oct. 11 and Oct. 25, 2023, in which he threatened to “finish what Hitler started” and suggested that she was complicit in the deaths of Palestinians, prosectors in the U.S. attorney’s office in Nevada charged in court documents.
Spencer L. Evans, special agent in charge for the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Las Vegas division, said in a statement on Tuesday that Mr. Miller’s threats posed a chilling effect on elected officials.
“Violent threats against any individual are unacceptable, but when they are directed at elected officials and their family members, threats have the potential to impact democracy itself by silencing those chosen to represent the American people,” Mr. Evans said.
Judge Jennifer A. Dorsey of U.S. District Court sentenced Mr. Miller to 46 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, prosecutors said.
Jess Marchese, Mr. Miller’s lawyer, said in a statement to The New York Times on Wednesday that Mr. Miller “looks forward to doing his time and moving forward with his life.” He added that Mr. Miller “plans on addressing his drug addiction and getting back into society as a productive citizen.”
Messages left with Ms. Rosen’s office on Wednesday were not immediately returned.
Mr. Miller, who pleaded guilty in December to one count of threatening a federal official and two counts of threatening a family member of a federal official, was arrested and charged in October 2023.
According to a criminal complaint, Mr. Miller threatened Ms. Rosen in a series of messages in the days after Hamas’s Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel, lacing his attacks with sexist and antisemitic slurs and profanity. In one call, according to court records, Mr. Miller told Ms. Rosen, “We’re gonna exterminate you.” In another call, Mr. Miller accused her of letting her family members kill Palestinians in the West Bank.
On Oct. 18, 2023, Mr. Miller showed up at the Lloyd D. George U.S. Courthouse, where Ms. Rosen has a district office, and demanded to see the senator. Security turned him away after he refused to provide identification, according to charging documents. Mr. Miller shouted about killing Israelis as he walked away on Las Vegas Boulevard, records show.
Ms. Rosen was not named in the criminal complaint, but the senator’s office later confirmed that she had been the target of the threats. Court records did not identify the other senator whose family Mr. Miller threatened.
Jack Begg contributed research.
