Carmel man pleaded guilty Feb. 27 to sending a communication that included a threat of violence to an election worker in Michigan.
Soon after the November election in 2020, Andrew Nickels, 37, left a voicemail for Tina Barton, a county clerk in Rochester Hills, Mich., in which he threatened that he and millions of “patriots” would kill her because she had “frauded out America of a real election.”
Nickels pleaded guilty to one count of making a threatening interstate communication. He is scheduled to be sentenced July 9 and faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine the sentence.
“Election officials and workers play a critical role in safeguarding free and fair elections,” stated Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “The Criminal Division will continue to aggressively investigate and prosecute individuals who seek to undermine this core tenet of our democracy by threatening election officials with violence.”
