A Las Vegas man who flooded public officials with violent, graphic threats is headed to federal prison for five years.
On Monday, June 1, 2026, U.S. District Judge Jennifer A. Dorsey sentenced Spencer Gear to a 60-month prison term, followed by three years of supervised release, after a jury found him guilty of a string of menacing messages aimed at officials in several states. The hearing took place in federal court in Las Vegas.
According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Nevada, prosecutors said Gear unleashed a series of threatening voicemails and an email between Nov. 30, 2023, and July 7, 2024. The messages targeted eight federal officials and three state employees. After a six-day trial in February, jurors convicted Gear on nine counts of threatening a federal official and 11 counts of transmitting a communication containing a threat to injure. Prosecutors had urged the court to impose a 71-month sentence, but the judge ultimately handed down a five-year term that still includes supervised release, as detailed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Nevada.
"Threats of violence are never merely words; they constitute serious federal crimes," FBI Las Vegas Special Agent in Charge Christopher S. Delzotto said in the announcement. The statement credited the U.S. Marshals Service and U.S. Capitol Police with assisting the investigation. Federal officials said the calls and email were intended to intimidate public servants as they carried out their official duties, and that the jury’s guilty verdicts on all the charged counts reflected how seriously the threats were taken, according to The U.S. Attorney’s Office.
High-profile Targets Named In Earlier Reporting
Court filings and prior coverage revealed that one voicemail referred to "A.B." and "J.M.," initials widely understood to point to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and Judge Juan Merchan, the judge who oversaw the New York hush-money case. That connection surfaced when the indictment was unsealed in July 2024, as noted by ABC News.
Legal Context
The statutes used to prosecute Gear come with serious potential time behind bars. Each count of threatening a federal official can carry up to 10 years in prison, and each count of transmitting a threatening communication can carry up to five years. Actual sentences, though, depend on federal sentencing guidelines and the judge’s discretion. Local reporting has broken down the sentencing hearing, the evidence presented at trial, and reaction from both sides. For more on the courtroom details, see coverage by the Las Vegas Sun.
Federal prosecutors and their law-enforcement partners said the case was a clear warning that threats against public officials will be aggressively investigated and prosecuted across state lines. Gear is expected to enter federal custody to begin serving his sentence following the hearing.
