The US Department of Justice said on Friday that it had charged a Florida man for allegedly threatening to kill one of his opponents in the 2022 Republican Party primary race for a seat in the US House of Representatives, which was later won by Representative Anna Paulina Luna.
In an indictment unsealed in federal court in Florida, prosecutors said William Robert Braddock III, 41, of St. Petersburg, Florida, threatened to kill an unnamed victim on June 8, 2021.
Newspaper reports in Florida at the time of a related civil trial described alleged threats from Braddock against Luna.
Luna’s aides could not immediately comment as they dealt with recovery efforts related to Hurricane Helen, which struck Florida with devastating force.
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According to the indictment, Braddock allegedly threatened to “call in the Russian-Ukrainian hit team” and make his primary opponent “disappear.”
Braddock then withdrew from the race and fled the United States. He was later found to be living in the Philippines, according to the indictment.
He was recently deported and appeared in court Thursday in Los Angeles.
Luna is expected to win re-election fairly easily, according to a Reuters analysis of the three major nonpartisan political rating services in the United States.
If convicted, Braddock faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison, according to the Department of Justice.
The indictment comes as the Justice Department attempts to quell threats against election workers in the lead-up to the presidential and congressional elections in November.
