A California man accused of leaving threatening voicemails to former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas was sentenced to 11 months in prison, the Department of Justice announced on Wednesday.
David Allen Carrier, a 44-year-old resident from Concord, California, made voicemail threats on two different occasions in 2021 and 2022.
On Jan. 21, 2021, Mr. Carrier called Ms. Pelosi, who was at the time the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and left a message on her office voicemail threatening to assault her.
On June 30, 2022, Mr. Carrier called the Department of Homeland Security hotline and left a voicemail message threatening to assault the head of the department, Mr. Mayorkas.
The prosecution was started by the Department of Justice’s National Security and Cybercrime Section following a joint investigation by the FBI and the United States Secret Service (USSS).
Mr. Carrier was indicted by a grand jury in September 2023. He pleaded guilty to two counts of making threats against a federal official—a criminal offense punishable by up to ten years in prison.
In pleading guilty to the charge, Mr. Carrier acknowledged that he had made the calls with the intent to interfere with Ms. Pelosi’s and Mr. Mayorkas’ performance in their official duties.
“Participating in the public political conversation is an important right for all citizens,” said U.S. Attorney Ismail J. Ramsey, “Nevertheless, threatening our public servants is not protected by the First Amendment and corrodes our ability to engage in peaceful and important public discourse. This Office will not tolerate behavior that crosses the line to criminal threats.”
“Violent threats targeting elected officials also threaten our democratic system,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Robert Tripp. “Today’s sentence demonstrates that anyone who sends politically motivated threats of violence to government officials will be investigated by the FBI and held accountable.”
“We take threats against a U.S. Secret Service protectee very seriously,” said Shawn M. Bradstreet, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Secret Service’s San Francisco Field Office. “This is a great example of the coordination and partnership between the U.S. Secret Service, the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California to investigate and prosecute threats against our nation’s leaders.”
In addition to the prison term, Mr. Carrier will serve three years of supervised release, which will begin after his completion.
Judge William Alsup also ordered Mr. Carrier to stay away and have no contact, direct or indirect, with both Ms. Pelosi and Mr. Mayorkas, as well as to attend mental health and substance abuse treatment, among other conditions, while on supervised release.
