Man who threatened congressman gets 3-year prison sentence

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COLUMBUS (AP) — A man who left a voicemail message at an Ohio congressman’s office mentioning a June shooting at a baseball practice for members of Congress has been sentenced to more than three years in prison.

Judge Michael Watson on Friday sentenced 69-year-old Stanley Hoff to 40 months in prison following Hoff’s October guilty plea to threatening to assault and murder a United States official.

Authorities said the voicemail Hoff left last year at the office of Republican U.S. Rep. Steve Stivers mentioned the shooting in Arlington, Virginia, that injured five people, including Republican House Majority Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana.

An affidavit that accompanied a criminal complaint filed in June 2017 provides a transcript of Hoff’s two-minute-long rambling and threatening voice message left with Stivers’ district office in Hilliard, Ohio. It’s not clear from the transcript what prompted his anger toward Stivers and other members of Congress.

“We are coming to get every (expletive) one of you and your families,” Hoff said. “We are taking our country back. We are on the march. The other day is just the tip of the iceberg. I’ve tried to warn you. You don’t want to listen to me.”

The affidavit says that Hoff began leaving “harassing and threatening” voice messages with Stivers’ office in February 2017.

Defense attorney Alan Pfeuffer said his client deeply regretted leaving the voicemails and causing pain to Stivers’ family.

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