A Florida man was sentenced Wednesday to two years in prison for threatening to kill Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) and his children. Federal prosecutors announced.
Michael Shapiro, 72, Sentenced The defendant testified at a hearing in Fort Lauderdale on Wednesday, nearly nine months after prosecutors said he left multiple threatening messages at Swalwell’s office in Washington.
Shapiro reportedly left five voicemails with Swalwell’s Washington office from his Greenacres, Florida, home on December 19. Court DocumentsIn three messages, Shapiro threatened to kill the California Democrat and his children, prosecutors said.
Authorities said they traced the phone number to Shapiro’s Florida home and linked the voicemail to him, leading to his arrest in January.
He pleaded guilty in May to sending threatening messages.
In one of the messages, Shapiro said, “I’m going to come after you and kill you…” and in another, he said, “I’m going to kill your kids,” according to court documents.
In some of the calls, Shapiro It seems to have been referenced Christine Fang, a suspected Chinese spy with ties to Swalwell, was mentioned in the calls multiple times by federal prosecutors, including in one case saying, “Hey, motherfucker, you’re a Chinese spy.”
The House Ethics Committee launched a two-year investigation into Hwang’s alleged relationship with Swalwell after reports that he had worked with Swalwell’s campaign and targeted the freshman California politician.
Swalwell acknowledged to the FBI that he had been targeted by Chinese operatives, but emphasized that he quickly cooperated with law enforcement and was never accused of wrongdoing. Some of Swalwell’s political opponents used unfounded rumors to attack him, and he later lost his seat on the House Intelligence Committee.
Prosecutors said in January that Shapiro also pleaded guilty in federal court in 2019 to threatening a different victim.
Swalwell has faced a variety of threats in recent years. In 2022, a staff member received a call from a man who said he was coming to kill Swalwell in his congressional office. In another case last year, Swalwell claimed a former NFL player had threatened to execute him on social media.
