A protester waves a Trump flag during a rally organized by Election Integrity Fund and Force at the Michigan State Capitol on Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2021, in Lansing, Michigan. (Jake May/The Flint Journal via AP, File)
An Indiana man who terrorized an election worker in 2020 with a threat to hold a “throat to the knife” of those who claimed there were no irregularities in the 2020 presidential race between Donald Trump and now-President Joe Biden, pleaded guilty Tuesday and could face up to five years in prison.
Andrew Nickels, 37, entered the plea in a federal courtroom in Michigan though he is a resident of Carmel, Indiana. A grand jury first indicted Nickels in July 2023.
Prosecutors said in a statement Tuesday that on Nov. 10, 2020, Nickels called an election clerk in Michigan and vowed to kill them, saying: “We’re watching your…mouth talk about how you think that there’s no irregularities…[Y]ou frauded out America of a real election” and “you’re gonna pay for it.”
He warned the clerk, “10 million patriots will surround you when you least expect it.”
“[W]e’ll [expletive] kill you…[Y]ou will [expletive] pay for your [expletive] lying a– remarks…We will [expletive] take you out. [Expletive] your family, [expletive] your life, and you deserve a [expletive] throat to the knife…Watch your [expletive] back…watch your [expletive] back,” Nickels can be heard saying in the voicemail.
He will be sentenced on July 9. All sentencing memorandums are due no later than July 2. An attorney for Nickels did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Nickels entered the plea before U.S. District Judge Laurie J. Michelson, an appointee of former President Barack Obama.
Michigan has been a hotbed of extremist activities in recent years. As noted by The Detroit News, at least 28 people from Michigan were charged with crimes connected to the insurrection at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
And election workers are not the only ones being harassed. As Law&Crime previously reported, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was the target of a kidnapping plot ahead of the 2020 election. A jury acquitted three men of the plot charges in September 2023. A year before, a federal jury convicted two of the ringleaders, however.
The Southern Poverty Law Center reported last year that in Michigan alone, there were at least 29 distinct, documented hate groups, the near majority of which are considered “anti-government” networks in 2022. As noted by the Michigan Advance, the national average for documented hate groups at the time was just 24.
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