Judge sentences New York man to 13 months in prison for harassing calls to Congress

Sept. 4 (UPI) -- A 35-year-old New York City man was sentenced to more than a year in prison for threatening to kill a Congressional staffer and harassing members of Congress, the Justice Department said on Tuesday.

U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Kelly sentenced Ade Salim Lilly, of Queens, to 13 months in prison and 36 additional months of supervised release for his actions. Lilly pleaded guilty on May 30 to two charges of using interstate communications with a threat to kidnap or injure and repeated telephone calls.

Prosecutors said from Feb. 1, 2022, until his arrest in Puerto Rico on Nov. 8, 2023, Lilly made more than 12,000 calls to about 54 Congressional offices. Lilly made the calls from Maryland and Puerto Rico, prosecutors said.

Lilly's calls, which were of a vulgar and harassing nature. Congressional staff repeatedly told him that his communications were unwanted, but he would mask his phone number to continue calling. In one phone call made in Oct. 21, 2022, Lilly threatened to kill the staffer responding to him.

"I will kill you," Lilly reportedly told the staffer, prosecutors said. "I'm going to run you over. I will kill you with a bomb or grenade."

Over a two-day span in February 2023, Lilly called one U.S. representative's office more than 500 times. The Justice Department statement did not mention what offices Lilly called.