Portland Man Sentenced to Nearly Six Years for Threats, Firearm Possession, and Stalking

PORTLAND, ME—Michael R. Thomas, 52, of Portland, was sentenced today in the U.S. District Court of Portland by Judge D. Brock Hornby to 71 months in prison and three years of supervised release for threatening members of Congress, mailing a threatening communication, interstate stalking, and possessing a firearm after being convicted of a felony. Thomas pleaded guilty to the charges on June 27, 2012.

According to court records, in 2010 and 2011 Thomas sent letters threatening to kill U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman, U.S. Representative Steve King, and Maine Governor Paul LePage. The letter to Senator Lieberman stated in part, “You are a treasonous traitor & should be shot dead...it is only a matter of time until you receive constitutional justice at the point of a gun...” Similar letters were sent to Representative King and Governor LePage.

From 2006 to 2011, Thomas sent a series of harassing and threatening letters to a victim in Massachusetts with the intent to cause substantial emotional distress to the victim. Some of the letters threatened to harm the victim and his family, and other letters falsely claimed that the victim had engaged in criminal activity.

In March 2011, agents executing a search warrant at Thomas’s residence in Portland found a .45 caliber pistol in his bedroom. Thomas was prohibited from possessing the firearm under federal law because of a prior felony stalking conviction in Massachusetts.

The investigation was conducted by the FBI, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the U.S. Capitol Police, the Maine State Police, and the Danvers, Massachusetts Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig Wolff prosecuted the case for the government.