Las Cruces man sentenced to year in prison for threatening congresswoman
ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico (KVIA) -- Las Cruces resident Michael David Fox will spend just over a year in prison and pay a $4,000 fine after he threatened a Texas Congresswoman.
Fox plead guilty to a charge of interstate transmission of threatening communications in September.
Court documents state that on May 18, 2023, Fox called a Texas congresswoman and left a voicemail calling her a "pedophile" and using an anti-transgender slur. The documents state that Fox also threatened to "put a bullet" in the congresswoman's face. Officials say FBI investigators traced the call back to Fox and interviewed him a few days later. He told investigators he was part of a movement to "eradicate" transgender people who had "infiltrated" the government. Fox incorrectly believed the congresswoman was transgender. At his sentencing the court "applied a hate crime motivation enhancement to his sentence," officials explained.
“While everyone is entitled to believe irrational ideas, no belief entitles someone to threaten violence,” said U.S. Attorney for the District of New Mexico Uballez. “Hate crimes drive division and fear and we have no room for either. Federal law enforcement will stand up for our community by delivering very real consequences to very real threats, even when they are driven by fantasy."
