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An Arizona man will spend a year and three months in prison for making violent threats online against elected and federal officials.
On Monday, United States District Judge Dominic Lanza sentenced Michael Lee Tomasi, a 38-year-old resident of Rio Verde, to 15 months in prison and 36 months of supervised release. He will also be required to pay a $100 fine for publishing threatening social media posts last year on patriots.win, an online forum for supporters of President-elect Donald Trump. In his posts, Tomasi called for the execution of a congressman, wrote about his urge to rape a congresswoman and threatened to kill FBI agents.
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“Shoot the FBI first and ask questions later. They are terrorists that deserve nothing but to be shot on site,” Tomasi wrote in one such post in August 2023. “Any FBI have a problem with that come to my house and see what happens. Shoot before they even pull their guns out of their trunk and you shoot to kill.”
When FBI agents arrested Tomasi in December, they found more than 5,000 rounds of ammunition, several firearms, including an AR-15 style rifle and body armor. Lanza ordered that the ammunition and weapons will not be returned to Tomasi.
Attorney General Merrick Garland applauded Monday’s sentencing and thanked FBI agents for bringing Tomasi to justice.
“After making vile threats to execute and sexually assault FBI agents and employees, state and local law enforcement officials, and other public servants, Michael Tomasi told the FBI to ‘come to my house and see what happens’ – what has happened is that he will spend 15 months in federal prison,” Garland wrote in a news release.
Originally charged with three counts of threatening federal officials and three counts of making interstate threats, Tomasi faced a maximum of 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each count. In the end, he pled guilty to one count of making threats against public officials.
FBI Director Christopher Wray criticized the attacks against agents and officials that work on behalf of the public’s interest.
“I take it very personally that anyone would threaten FBI personnel who work tirelessly to protect the American people from a variety of threats and often put themselves in harm’s way while carrying out their duties,” he said.
U.S. Attorney Gary Restaino warned that threats against public officials will not go unpunished and said there’s a clear difference between freedom of speech and violent statements.
“Civil discourse and civic dialogue are fundamental to a democratic society,” he said. “But the incitement of violence is not: We will continue our efforts to prosecute those who make true threats against public officials and law enforcement officers.”
Over the past decade, studies have found a marked increase in political violence and threats targeting public officials, particularly locally elected figures. Experts attribute that rise to heightened partisanship and an increase in violent political rhetoric.
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