A Broome County man will spend three months in federal prison for threatening a member of the U.S. Congress last year.
Joseph F. Morelli, 51, of Endicott was also sentenced to three years of post-release supervision for making threatening phone calls from his Oak Hill Road home to a voicemail in the office of U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia.
At a sentencing hearing Thursday, Chief U.S. District Judge Brenda K. Sannes ordered Morelli to report to prison on Oct. 2.
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FBI, U.S. Capital Police investigate March 2022 threats
FBI agents, assisted by Endicott police officers, took Morelli into custody on March 16, 2022, after a raid on a Northside apartment. He was charged with transmitting interstate threatening communications, according to a criminal complaint filed by the FBI.
U.S. Capitol Police also assisted in the investigation.
Morelli pleaded guilty in February, admitting he placed a telephone call on March 3, 2022 to the Washington, D.C. office of Greene that said in part, “I’m gonna have to take your life into my own hands … I’m gonna hurt you. Physically, I’m gonna harm you.”
A second voicemail message from the same day said, in part, “I’m gonna have to show you, to your face, right up front, what violence truly is, and I don’t think you’re gonna like it. … I can pay someone 500 bucks to take a baseball bat and crack your skull. …You are going to get (expletive) physically hurt.”
A third voicemail message from that day included, “You’re gonna cause people to get hurt, so I’m gonna have to hurt you physically. … I’m gonna make sure that, even if they lock me up, someone’s gonna get you ‘cause I’ll pay them to.'”
Morelli faced a potential sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
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