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An Alabama man pleaded guilty on Friday to sending threatening messages to Arizona election workers in Maricopa County during the 2022 Arizona primary elections.
Brian Jerry Ogstad, 60, admitted to sending multiple threatening messages over social media, including explicit threats of violence and execution against election workers. He faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison on one count, with sentencing scheduled for Oct. 21 in Phoenix.
A message seeking comment was left with Ogstad’s attorney on Friday.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement that the safety of public servants is essential to the functioning of democracy and said the Justice Department has zero tolerance for threats and violence against them.
“We have no tolerance for this kind of heinous criminal conduct and the danger it poses to people’s safety and to our democratic process. Threats and acts of violence targeting those who serve the public will be met with the full force of the United States Justice Department,” Garland said in a statement.
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In a partially redacted indictment, attorneys for United States and Arizona said Ogstad made death threats on or about Aug. 2, 2022 through Aug. 4, 2022, to Maricopa County election officials through a social media account managed by the county.
“You did it! Now you are f—–. Dead. You will all be executed for your crimes,” he sent in a direct message over Instagram, according to the indictment.
Ogstad repeated the threats over the next couple days, repeatedly saying that they will “all be executed.”
A former economics professor who now describes himself as an entrepreneur and public speaker who focuses on liberty, philosophy, economy and society, Ogstad was featured in a 2021 CNN report on QAnon, the right-wing conspiracy theory that posits world events are controlled by a global cabal of leftist pedophiles who worship the devil.
In the report, Ogstad told CNN’s Anderson Cooper that he did not consider himself a “follower” of QAnon, even though he regularly used the movements slogans and online hashtags. CNN reported that he also appeared to believe most of their core conspiracy theories, including calling for the public execution of prominent Democratic officials.
U.S. Attorney Gary Restaino for the District of Arizona said the guilty plea should “send a message to anyone who tries to take the rule of law into their own hands through vigilante justice.”
FBI Director Christopher Wray also said that violent threats to election workers are threats to democracy and the democratic process.
“We cannot allow threats of violence against public servants to become normalized. The FBI takes seriously all threats of violence against public officials and will continue to pursue threats and acts of violence aimed at election workers,” he stated in a press release.
This case is part of the Justice Department’s Election Threats Task Force, established in June 2021 by Attorney General Garland and Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco. The task force addresses threats of violence against election workers and ensures they can perform their duties free from intimidation. It engages with the election community and law enforcement to investigate and prosecute threats against election workers.
Jim Small contributed to this report.
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