(WASHINGTON) — A California man was sentenced to 11 months in prison for making threatening calls to former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, the Justice Department announced Wednesday.
David Carrier, 44, of Concord, had pleaded guilty to two counts of making threats against public officials in December 2023.
Federal prosecutors had only sought a sentence of four years of probation for Carrier, noting he quickly accepted guilt and acknowledged his “lapse of judgment” in making the threats, according to a sentencing memorandum filed last week.
The judge overseeing his case ultimately disagreed. In addition to the 11-month prison sentence, Judge William Alsup ordered Carrier to three years of probation as well as requiring him to seek mental and substance abuse treatment upon his release during a sentencing hearing on Tuesday, prosecutors said.
Carrier left a voicemail with Pelosi’s San Francisco office on Jan. 21, 2021, the day after President Joe Biden’s inauguration, according to federal prosecutors.
“You better resign, you piece of f—— s—,” Carrier said in his voicemail to Pelosi’s office, according to the sentencing memorandum. “Cause we got a bullet and a rope with your f—— name on it. We’re gonna f—— get you b—-.”
An intern who initially heard the message perceived it as a threat and forwarded it to her bosses, who subsequently forwarded the voicemail to law enforcement for investigation, according to prosecutors.
More than a year later, he made threatening calls to Mayorkas, prosecutors said. According to the sentencing memorandum, on June 30, 2022, he told an operator with the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General to relay the following message: “If [Mayorkas] does not close the border someone is going to be shot. And it will be illegal immigrants.”
Later that day, he left a voicemail with the DHS general hotline stating, according to the sentencing memorandum, “Tell that f— Mayorkas to close the border before we citizens start killing those f—— illegal immigrants or we come looking for him and feed him to the dogs.”
The voicemail message was perceived as a threat and forwarded to law enforcement for investigation, prosecutors said.
“Participating in the public political conversation is an important right for all citizens. Nevertheless, threatening our public servants is not protected by the First Amendment and corrodes our ability to engage in peaceful and important public discourse,” U.S. Attorney Ismail Ramsey, whose office prosecuted the case, said in a statement. “This Office will not tolerate behavior that crosses the line to criminal threats.”
ABC News has reached out to Carrier’s attorney for comment on the sentencing.
Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.