A federal jury in Cleveland yesterday convicted former Defense Finance and Accounting Service employee Godwin Obot on three counts of threatening a federal employee. Prosecutors said Obot spent months in 2024 sending violent text messages to his former supervisor that targeted her, her husband and their children. The verdict came at the end of a multi-day trial in federal court.
Jurors saw a series of messages that, according to Cleveland.com, warned “we won’t hesitate to open fire the day we seeing you in downtown” and included phrases such as “murder f--- you, murder f--- your kids.” Prosecutors argued that the repeated and specific language was not just ugly venting, but true threats meant to terrorize the supervisor and her family.
Federal court records show Obot was arrested in Minnesota in June 2025 and indicted the following month on three counts, according to entries on the public docket, including those reflected on PacerMonitor. Charging papers and related filings state that prosecutors allege he used voice-over-internet-protocol services to disguise his real phone number while sending the texts.
Before the criminal case, Obot had challenged his removal from the Defense Finance and Accounting Service at the Merit Systems Protection Board, which denied his petition for review in July 2022. He later filed a civil lawsuit in federal court, but a judge dismissed that case in March 2024 for lack of jurisdiction, according to publicly available decisions from the Merit Systems Protection Board and case materials posted on Justia.
Inside the trial
During the trial, prosecutors walked jurors through the string of messages, the witnesses who received or reviewed them and the timeline of Obot’s contacts with his former supervisor after he left the agency. Court reporting indicates Obot at times represented himself before defense counsel entered the case, and the trial record notes at least one disruptive episode that resulted in his temporary removal from the courtroom, according to Cleveland.com.
What the law says
Threats directed at federal employees are charged under statutes that protect government workers and their families, including 18 U.S.C. § 115, which covers efforts to influence, impede or retaliate against a federal official by threatening or harming that person or a family member. Under that law and related federal guidance, threats involving kidnapping or murder can carry penalties of up to 10 years in prison, according to the U.S. Code.
Sentencing in Obot’s case has not yet been scheduled. The judge will set a date and decide the punishment after weighing federal sentencing guidelines and recommendations from both sides. The U.S. Attorney’s Office and prosecutors have filed the charging documents in the public docket and, according to PacerMonitor, did not immediately offer further comment beyond those court filings.
