Two plead guilty to threatening government officials over elections

Two people pleaded guilty Thursday in separate cases that involved calling for the deaths of public officials on election days following the 2020 presidential contest, federal prosecutors said.

Joshua Russell, 44, of Ohio, threatened a person in the Arizona secretary of state’s office by name, whom he called “a traitor to this country,” the Justice Department said in a statement.

“America’s coming for you, and you will pay with your life,” Russell said in a voicemail on Aug. 2, 2022, the day of Arizona’s primary elections. He made two other threats in September and November.

Russell pleaded guilty to one count of making a threatening interstate communication, the Justice Department said.

In Georgia, Chad Christopher Stark, 55, of Texas, pleaded guilty Thursday to one count of a sending a threat using a telecommunications device.

Stark on Jan. 5, 2021, posted a message to Craigslist in which he called for Georgia public officials to be killed.

“We’re going to make examples of traitors to our country,” Stark wrote, the Justice Department said.