72-year-old Florida man charged with threatening to kill member of Congress and member’s children

A Florida man, 72, was arrested Wednesday and charged with threatening to kill a member of Congress and the member’s children in several voicemail messages allegedly left at the lawmaker’s office in Washington, DC.

Michael Shapiro called the member’s office the evening of December 19 from his home in Greenacres, according to court records, and left five threatening voicemail messages. The member is not identified in the court documents.

“I’m gonna come after you and kill you,” he said in one message, according to court records.

“I’m gonna kill your children,” Shapiro threatened in another voice message, investigators said in the court records.

In some of the expletive-filled messages Shapiro called the member “a Chinese spy” and a “greaseball,” the records stated.

An investigator with the US Capitol Police Investigations Division, Threat Assessment Section, wrote in the court documents that phone records matched the phone that called the member’s office with a phone owned by Shapiro.

Shapiro made his initial appearance in court in the Southern District of Florida on Wednesday and was “found to be indigent,” according to the court docket. The public defender’s office was appointed to represent him.

CNN has reached out to the public defender’s office for comment.

The Justice Department said in a news release that “the complaint further alleges that Shapiro pleaded guilty in federal court in 2019 for making threatening communications to another victim.”