Cleveland Grover Meredith, Jr. sentenced for intimidating House Speaker Pelosi after US Capitol riot

Cleveland Grover Meredith, Jr. sentenced for intimidating House Speaker Pelosi after US Capitol riot

In a conviction handed down by the US District Court for the District of Columbia, a North Carolina man was sentenced to 28 months in prison after he pleaded guilty to a federal felony charge involving a threat he made against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi

Several months prior to the trials, the FBI conducted an investigation and prosecuted the defendants.

The man, Cleveland Grover Meredith, Jr., pleaded guilty to interstate communication of threats. After the riots at the US Capitol on January 6, FBI investigators determined Meredith had traveled to Washington, DC to attend rallies. His threat directed towards Pelosi was sent in a text message to a relative in Georgia on January 7. Meredith's hotel was then visited by the FBI, where they found two firearms and 2,500 rounds of ammunition.

Under 18 U.S.C. * 875 (c), the penalty for interstate threats can reach five years in prison. A threat is defined as a communication made "in interstate or foreign commerce that threatens to kidnap or to injure anyone."

Accordingly, the federal government had the necessary jurisdiction over Meredith under this statute since the text message traveled between DC and Georgia. Judge Amy Berman Jackson will supervise Meredith for three years after he has completed his 28 months in prison.

Meredith is one of more than 700 people who has been arrested for crime so far with the January 6 breach of the US Capitol, according to the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia.