Massachusetts man made bomb threat against Arizona election official, feds say
A Massachusetts man has been arrested on federal allegations he made a bomb threat against an Arizona election official in February 2021.
James Clark, 38, was arrested Friday on one count each of making a bomb threat, perpetrating a bomb hoax and communicating an interstate threat, the Justice Department said in a press release.
The federal indictment states that on Feb. 14, 2021, Clark posted a message through a contact form on the Arizona secretary of state's office elections division website in which he wrote, "Your attorney general needs to resign by Tuesday February 16th by 9 am or the explosive device impacted in her personal space will be detonated."
Clark also searched online for the address of the election official, as well as the words, "how to kill," the Justice Department said. Four days after sending the bomb threat, Clark did another online search for the words "fema boston marathon bombing" and "fema boston marathon bombing plan digital army," according to the Justice Department.
Clark appeared before a judge Friday in Boston federal court. If convicted as charged, he faces a maximum of up to 10 years in federal prison for the bomb threat, and five years in prison each for the other two counts.
"Throughout Arizona, we are fortunate to have highly professional state, county and local officials who administer elections in a fair and impartial manner," U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona Gary M. Restaino said in a statement. "Democracy requires that we support those officials, and that we take seriously allegations of threats or violence against them."
In its fourth public hearing in mid-June, several election officials testified before the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection that they received death threats in response to former President Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
"A lot of threats, wishing death upon me," Wandrea Arshaye Moss, an election worker in Fulton County, Georgia, testified. "A lot of them were racist. A lot of them were just hateful."
In January, a Texas man was also federally charged with posting election-related threats against Georgia government officials.