Tennessee Man Sentenced to 13 Months for Making Threatening Calls to Virginia Congressman

RICHMOND, VA—Glendon Swift, 63, of Lenoir City, Tennessee, was sentenced today to 13 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for making threats against Representative Eric Cantor, R-Virginia, and his family.

Neil H. MacBride, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; and Michael F. A. Morehart, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Richmond Field Office, made the announcement after sentencing.

Swift pled guilty on December 20, 2011, in the Eastern District of Tennessee to threatening a family member of a federal official. The defense and government jointly recommended in the plea agreement a prison sentence of 13 months.

According to court documents, an unknown male left two voicemail messages with Rep. Cantor’s Glen Allen, Virginia office the evening of October 27, 2011. The screaming, profanity-laden messages stated that the caller was going to destroy Rep. Cantor, rape his daughter, and kill his wife. A Congressional staff member retrieved the messages and alerted the U.S. Capitol Police, which sought the assistance of the FBI to identify and locate the individual who made the calls.

Swift was identified as the individual who subscribed to the phone number used to make the call. He was arrested without incident on November 2, 2011 by the FBI in Knoxville and the Lenoir City Police Department after having been interviewed by law enforcement.

The investigation was conducted by the FBI’s Richmond and Knoxville Field Offices, the U.S. Capitol Police, and the Lenoir City Police Department. Assistant United States Attorneys Jamie L. Mickelson from the Eastern District of Virginia and Cynthia Davidson from the Eastern District of Tennessee are prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.justice.gov/usao/vae.