FORT PIERCE, Fla. — A Palm Beach Gardens man has been sentenced to 18 months in federal prison for threatening two Democratic members of Congress and a prominent district attorney in Illinois.
Paul Hoeffer, 60, was sentenced Friday in U.S. District Court in Fort Pierce.
Hoeffer pleaded guilty to three counts of interstate transmission of threats to injure.
Federal prosecutors said Hoeffer called House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., in March 2019 and threatened to come a "long, long way" to rattle her head with bullets and cut her head off.
Prosecutors said Hoeffer made a similar threat to U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., in November 2020, when he called the congresswoman and told her he'd "rip her head off" and cautioned her to sleep with one eye open.
Florida voting records show that Hoeffer is a registered Democrat.
After his release, Hoeffer will have to serve three years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay a $2,000 fine and a $300 special assessment.
