Philadelphia Man Sentenced for Threatening U.S. Congressman

PHILADELPHIA—A Philadelphia man was sentenced today to 24 months in prison to be followed by three years’ supervised release for threatening U.S. Congressman Eric Cantor and a member of his family, announced U.S. Attorney Zane David Memeger.

Norman LeBoon, 38, pleaded guilty on Nov. 16, 2010, to threatening Congressman Cantor, and transmitting in interstate commerce a threatening communication. These charges arise from Leboon’s production and transmission of a YouTube video over the Internet, on March 26, 2010, containing a threat to injure and kill.

According to an affidavit in support of the warrant for LeBoon’s arrest issued on March 28, 2010, LeBoon transmitted a video over the Internet on YouTube, in which he stated:

“My Congressman Eric Cantor, and you and your cupcake evil wife...” “Remember Eric...our judgment time, the final Yom Kippur has been given. You are a liar, you’re a Lucifer, you’re a pig, a greedy f------ pig, you’re an abomination, you receive my bullets in your office, remember they will be placed in your heads. You and your children are Lucifer’s abominations.”

Following his arrest, LeBoon told federal agents that Eric Cantor is “pure evil”; “will be dead”; and that “Cantor’s family is suffering because of his father’s wrath.”

In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Court Judge John R. Padova ordered LeBoon to serve a period of three years’ supervised release with the following conditions: for the first 60 days of supervised release, the defendant will be on home detention with electronic monitoring; the defendant is prohibited from accessing the Internet during the period of supervised release; the defendant will be required to participate in mental health treatment and reports of such treatment shall be forwarded to the court on a quarterly basis; the defendant will be tested for the presence of illegal drugs; travel is restricted to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; and the defendant shall have no direct or indirect contact with Congressman Cantor or any member of his family.

This case was investigated by the FBI and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert K. Reed.