Coon Rapids man sentenced for leaving US senator threatening voicemails

A Coon Rapids man was sentenced in federal court for making interstate threats against a U.S. senator outside of Minnesota. 

Brendon Michael Daugherty, 35, was sentenced to one year and one day in prison Wednesday for leaving a U.S. senator two threatening voicemails in June 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a press release.

In the first message, he said, "You and the Republican Party should be proud that you’re pushing me to become a domestic terrorist. Have a nice [expletive] day; can’t wait to kill you," according to the DOJ. 

Daugherty left a second message which stated, "I also just wanted to note, thank God the Republican Party is against gun control laws because it would keep guns out of the hands of a person that was disabled and volatile like I am, but you guys are totally against that. So, I may actually get to carry out my nefarious goals." 

Staff members recorded the voicemails and reported them to the U.S. Capitol Police. 

During the investigation, Daugherty allegedly told FBI agents he called because the senator was "doing a bunch of stupid [expletive] with gun control," and he wanted politicians to "feel a little bit pressured," court documents state. 

Daugherty pleaded guilty to one count of interstate transmission of a threat to injure the person of another in November 2022. The judge who sentenced Daugherty emphasized threats directed at elected officials post a "pernicious threat to our democratic institutions." 

Daugherty was previously convicted of one count of terroristic threats for making threatening phone calls to employees at a Maple Grove Pearle Vision store in 2018, according to court documents.