Ohio Man Sentenced to 21 Months for Threatening to Kill Kentucky Governor
| U.S. Attorney’s Office October 30, 2012 |
FRANKFORT, KY—An Ohio man who previously admitted he threatened to kill Kentucky Governor Steven L. Beshear received a 21-month federal prison sentence today.
U.S. District Judge Danny C. Reeves sentenced 45-year-old Thomas Hargreaves for transmitting a threatening communication in interstate commerce.
Hargreaves e-mailed Governor Steve Beshear’s Office in August of 2011 and threatened to kill the governor, according to court documents.
In June 2011, Hargreaves demanded in an e-mail that the governor restore his Kentucky Commercial Driver’s License (CDL). In a response, the Secretary of the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet noted, among other things, that because Hargreaves was an Ohio resident, he was not eligible for a CDL in Kentucky. Less than a month later, Hargreaves e-mailed the death threat.
Kerry B. Harvey, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; Perrye Turner, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); and Rodney Brewer, Kentucky State Police (KSP) Commissioner, jointly announced the sentence.
The investigation was conducted by FBI and KSP. Assistant U.S. Attorney Hydee Hawkins represented the U.S. Attorney’s Office in this case.
Hargreaves must serve at least 85 percent of his prison sentence.