Man who was mad about Chinese spy balloon gets 4 years probation for threatening ex-Speaker McCarthy

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A Montana man was sentenced to four years of probation on Wednesday for threatening to assault former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy after becoming upset with the government for not shooting down a Chinese spy balloon that floated over the defendant’s home city.

Richard Rogers, 45, of Billings, was convicted by a federal jury last year on charges of threatening a member of Congress and making harassing phone calls to the FBI and congressional staff. He routinely made vulgar and obscene comments and berated officials during the calls.

The former telephone customer service representative delivered the assault threat to a McCarthy staffer 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 one day after the Pentagon acknowledged it was tracking the spy balloon, which was later shot down off the Atlantic Coast.

The threat against McCarthy carried a maximum penalty of six years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Rogers testified at trial that his outraged calls to the FBI and McCarthy’s office were a form of civil disobedience. One of his lawyers said during the trial that Rogers “just wanted to be heard.”

Prosecutors had asked the court to send a “strong deterrent message” that threats against public officials are not protected by the First Amendment. They had requested a sentence of two years in prison.

“Rogers’ conduct in this case contributes to a rising and concerning myth that the First Amendment somehow gives a person complete immunity from all consequences as long as their speech or conduct is framed as ‘political protest,’” prosecutors wrote in a court filing.

Defense attorney Daniel Ball had asked for Rogers to be spared prison and sentenced to supervised release. Ball referenced the violent actions of supporters of President Donald Trump in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and noted that many of them received prison sentences shorter than two years. Trump pardoned the perpetrators after he started his second term.

“The actions of some of these individuals may have been violent and egregious. Yet, they were pardoned,” Ball wrote in a court filing last week. “Richard’s conduct, as determined by the jury, occurred in Montana. There was no imminent risk to any person. There was no imminent threat.”

Rogers has said that he supports Trump and he was in Washington during the 2021 attack on the Capitol but did not take part.

Threats against public officials in the U.S. have risen sharply in recent years, including against members of Congress, their spouses, election workers and local officials. Rogers’ case was among more than 8,000 threats to lawmakers investigated by the U.S. Capitol Police in 2023.

A 30-year-old Billings man was sentenced last year to 2 1/2 years in federal prison after leaving voicemail messages threatening to kill former Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Tester and his family. Another Montana man was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in 2023 for threats against Tester.