Florida man threatened to kill Democratic congressman. Now, he’s in prison for two years
A South Florida man was sentenced Wednesday to two years in prison after admitting that he threatened to kill U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell and his children in a series of voicemails left at the California Democrat’s Washington office in late 2023.
Michael Shapiro, 73, of Greenacres, pleaded guilty in May to an indictment charging him with transmitting a threatening communication.
Shapiro left five voicemail messages at Swalwell’s office D.C. office on Dec. 19, 2023, though court records did not name the member of Congress. Swalwell confirmed that the messages were left for him in a social media post when Shapiro was arrested in January.
“No threat is going to stop me from representing my constituents,” Swalwell said in the post. “MAGA Republicans have chosen violence over voting and this is what it looks like.”
Shapiro, who was ordered by U.S. District Judge David Leibowitz to surrender immediately to prison authorities, placed the threatening calls from his home in Palm Beach County, federal prosecutors said.
In one of the messages left for Swalwell, Shapiro stated that he was going to “come after you and kill you,” according to a criminal complaint and affidavit by the U.S. Capitol Police. In another message, he stated that he was going to “come and kill your children.”
Shapiro also accused Swalwell of being “a Chinese spy,” linking the congressman in his voicemail threats to a suspected spy, Christine Fang. Multiple investigations, however, revealed no evidence of such activity.
Fang came into contact with Swalwell’s campaign as he was first running for Congress in 2012 and participated in fundraising for his 2014 campaign.
Federal investigators alerted Swalwell to their concerns and briefed Congress about Fang in 2015, at which point Swalwell said he cut off contact with her. The House Ethics Committee began a probe of Swalwell’s connection to Fang in 2021, but the probe ended last year without finding any wrongdoing.
The Capitol Police complaint also noted that Shapiro pleaded guilty in federal court in 2019 to making threatening communications to another victim. In the latest case, Shapiro was presented by the Federal Public Defender’s Office.
This story was originally published August 8, 2024 at 12:00 AM.
