BALTIMORE — A 56-year-old man has been arrested and charged in Maryland federal court with making threats against Dr. Anthony Fauci.
Federal authorities said Thomas Patrick Connally Jr., who was arrested in West Virginia, repeatedly sent threatening emails to Fauci at his National Institutes of Health account, which is based in Bethesda, Maryland.
The first, in December 2020, had a subject line reading: “Hope you get a bullet in your compromised satanic skull.”
Other emails told Fauci his “entire family ... are about to be dragged into the street and slaughtered” and made references to Bill Gates and George Soros. Threatening emails were also sent to Dr. Francis Collins, director of the NIH.
“Drop the mandatory vaccine talk,” one email said.
The emails were sent from an encrypted program, but authorities say they determined his connection through linked accounts and IP addresses. The charging documents say that while the man was arrested in West Virginia, they don’t know where he lives.
If convicted, Connally faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison for threats against a federal official; and a maximum of five years in federal prison for interstate communication containing a threat to harm. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties.
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