A 60-year-old Dayton man, identified as Jeffrey Dorsey, was arrested on charges of threatening to kill a U.S. Congressman; the accusation emerged after Dorsey reportedly left an aggressive voicemail at the representative's main office, federal officials reported.
The criminal complaint, which came to public attention after being unsealed this morning, reveals Dorsey's message warned the congressman against voting for reductions in Medicaid, explicitly threatening, “If you vote to take my f***ing Medicaid away, I’m gonna cut your f***ing head off…But I tell you this, clearly to your brain, if you f*** with my Medicaid, you’re a dead f***,” according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Dorsey, who previously resided in Columbus, was taken into custody yesterday evening and faced a judge in U.S. District Court in Dayton earlier today, the DOJ confirmed. Dorsey has been charged with making interstate communications with the intent to injure, a federal offense that holds potential imprisonment of up to five years.
FBI Cincinnati Special Agent in Charge Elena Iatarola underlined the gravity of the issue stating through the U.S. Department of Justice, “The FBI takes all threats seriously,” and reinforced the stance that 'Threats to harm others, including public officials, will never be tolerated' further indicating the FBI's commitment to assess any credible threat irrespective of the target's public profile, this stance is shared by Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, Kelly A. Norris, who together with Iatarola, announced the charges; Assistant United States Attorney Ryan A. Saunders is appointed the task of representing the United States in a case against an individual whose presumption of innocence remains intact until the judiciary proves otherwise.
It remains important to note that a criminal complaint is purely an allegation, and as such, Dorsey is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law, a fundamental principle of the American legal system that upholds the idea that judgment rests only with a judge or a jury, after meticulous examination of all evidences and testimonies in a court proceeding, as elucidated by the DOJ.
