BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) – A Montana man was convicted Wednesday of threatening to attack former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy after he became angry that the government failed to shoot down a Chinese spy balloon hovering over his hometown.
Richard Rogers, 45, of Billings, made the threat to a McCarthy associate during a series of more than 100 calls to the Republican speaker’s office in just 75 minutes on Feb. 3, 2023, prosecutors said. That was a day after the Pentagon acknowledged it was tracking the spy balloon, which was later shot down off the Atlantic coast.
The 12-person federal jury also found Rogers guilty of two counts of harassing phone calls: those to McCarthy’s office plus 150 calls he made to an FBI tip line in 2021 and 2022.
Rogers routinely made vulgar and lewd comments during those calls.
Sentencing was set for January 31. He faces a maximum sentence of six years in prison and a $250,000 fine for threatening to harm a member of Congress, and a maximum sentence of two years and a $250,000 fine for harassment.
U.S. District Judge Susan Watters allowed Rogers to remain free pending sentencing.
Threats against government officials in the US have increased sharply in recent years, including against members of Congress and their spouses, election workers and local elected officials. Rogers’ case was among more than 8,000 threats against lawmakers investigated by U.S. Capitol Police in 2023, and officials expect another wave in the 2024 election.
During a three-day trial, Rogers testified that his outraged phone calls to the FBI and McCarthy’s office were a form of “civil disobedience.”
He and his lawyers argued that the use of obscenities against FBI agents and congressional staff was protected as free speech under the First Amendment, which establishes the right “to petition the government for redress of grievances.”
But prosecutors said Rogers crossed the line by threatening McCarthy’s life and by hurling abusive and sexual verbal tirades against lawmakers’ staffers and FBI agents.
In the dozens of calls made for jurors, Rogers was heard asking for investigations into several alleged conspiracies involving the FBI and President Joe Biden’s administration. He was polite at times, but quickly became angry and shouted obscenities until the call was disconnected.
“You can’t talk to people like that. It’s common sense,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Godfrey. ‘He’s not calling out of political protest; he calls because he enjoys it.”
The prosecutor told the jury that there is no exception in federal law that says government employees can be subjected to harassment.
“Petitioning the government is nonsense,” Godfrey said. “Kevin McCarthy was the Speaker of the House of Representatives. It’s not his job to shoot down spy balloons.’
Rogers, a former telephone customer service representative, testified that he made sure to “edit” his comments on the phone to avoid any threats because he didn’t want to go to jail.
He added that he never tried to hide his actions and often gave his name and phone number when calling the FBI.
“They were disrespectful to me, so I was disrespectful to them,” Rogers said.
Defense attorney Ed Werner said Rogers “just wanted to be heard.”
After the guilty plea, Rogers reiterated his claim that he never threatened anyone. He also said he was dissatisfied with his lawyers for not adequately presenting his case.
Rogers wore shirts with images of Captain America and other superheroes during the trial, including on Wednesday with the letters “MAGA” on the front, a reference to Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan. A supporter of the former president, he said he was in Washington during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
Godfrey said the case was not about politics, but rather illegal harassment.
Earlier this year, a 30-year-old Billings man was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison after leaving voicemail messages threatening to kill Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Tester and his family. Another Montana man, from Kalispell, was sentenced last year to 2.5 years in prison, also for making threats against Tester.
