A twisted Queens man has admitted to making more than 12,000 harassing phone calls to lawmakers, including one threatening to kill an aide.
Ade Salim Lilly, 35, pleaded guilty Thursday to threatening to kidnap or injure someone in interstate commerce and making repeated harassing phone calls to at least 54 congressional offices. According to court documents:.
The calls were usually answered by members of Congress’ staff, and Lilly “became angry and used vulgar and harassing language,” the plea agreement states, and she allegedly made more than 500 calls to one Washington, D.C., office in just two days.
His threats took a sinister turn in October 2021, when he threatened an aide who answered a phone call to the Washington office of an unidentified member of Congress.
“I’m going to kill you, I’m going to run you over, I’m going to kill you with a bomb or a grenade,” Lilly said in his guilty plea documents.
Staff “took this statement to be a serious expression of intent to inflict physical harm,” court documents state.
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Court documents did not provide any details about Lilly or what complaints the calls were about, and it was not clear whether the targets were members of the same party.
But the doctor said he continued to call despite repeated warnings from police and instead just “hid” his number.
“Threatening the safety or life of others is a crime, not protected speech,” said Matthew Graves, the U.S. attorney in Washington.
“This case should send a clear message that while people have the right to express themselves, intimidating others will not be tolerated and those who do will be held accountable.”
Lilly faces up to five years in prison for threatening to kidnap or injure a person in interstate commerce and up to two years in prison for the repeated calling charge he admitted to. He is due to be sentenced on August 28.
