An Alabama man who left multiple threatening voicemails for the Fulton County district attorney and sheriff will spend more than a year in federal prison for the crime.
Arthur Ray Hanson II will spend one year and seven months in prison, complete three years of supervised release, and pay a $7,500 fine.
The 59-year-old was charged after he called the Fulton County government customer service line and left two messages — one for District Attorney Fani Willis and the other for Sheriff Pat Labat last August.
These calls took place as news began surfacing that the county was preparing to drop a criminal indictment against former president Donald Trump and several co-conspirators for election interference.
The Department of Justice reported that in his message for Sheriff Labat, Hanson made statements that included the following:
- “If you think you gonna take a mugshot of my President Trump and it’s gonna be okay, you gonna find out that after you take that mugshot, some bad [expletive]’s gonna happen to you.”
- “If you take a mugshot of the President and you’re the reason it happened, some bad [expletive]’s gonna happen to you.”
- “I’m warning you right now before you [expletive] up your life and get hurt real bad.”
- “Whether you got a [expletive] badge or not ain’t gonna help you none;” and “you gonna get [expletive]ed up you keep [expletive]ing with my President.”
In Hanson’s message for District Attorney Willis, he made statements that included the following:
- “Watch it when you’re going to the car at night, when you’re going into your house, watch everywhere that you’re going.”
- “I would be very afraid if I were you because you can’t be around people all the time that are going to protect you.”
- “There’s gonna be moments when you’re gonna be vulnerable.”
- “When you charge Trump on that fourth indictment, anytime you’re alone, be looking over your shoulder.”
- “What you put out there, [expletive], comes back at you ten times harder, and don’t ever forget it.”
A federal grand jury indicted Hanson in October 2023. He pleaded guilty to one count of transmitting interstate threats in July.
During his plea hearing, he told the judge he wasn’t a “violent person” and “didn’t knowingly know I was threatening anybody.”
“I made a stupid phone call,” the insurance salesman from Huntsville, Alabama, said.
“Threats against public servants are not only illegal but also a threat against our democratic process,” said Sean Burke, acting special agent in charge of FBI Atlanta. “The FBI’s mission is to protect the American people and uphold the Constitution. We take this responsibility very seriously and seek to punish those who engage in this type of criminal behavior, and to send the message that such conduct will not be tolerated.”
Willis has been vocal about the numerous death threats she received in the days before and after the Fulton County election meddling indictment dropped against the former president and more than a dozen of his allies.
The day the charges were announced, Willis covertly left the courthouse in plain clothes and employed a body double to use the main courthouse exit where members of the media were waiting.
