Pa. man charged with threatening state political party worker

Oct. 22 (UPI) -- A Pennsylvania man has been charged with threatening to kill a state political party worker who had solicited the public to serve as poll watchers for Election Day, federal prosecutors said.

John Pollard, 62, of Philadelphia, was charged with one count of transmitting interstate threats in an indictment unsealed Monday, the Justice Department said in a statement.

According to court documents, the employee of the unnamed political party had posted online that they were recruiting volunteers to observe polls on Nov. 5.

Prosecutors accuse Pollard of responding to the post, texting the worker that he was "interested" in volunteering.

Pollard allegedly texted the worker three more times, stating, "I will kill you if you don't answer me," warning that "your days are numbered" and that he was going to "[expletive] find you and skin you alive and use your skin for [expletive] toilet paper."

If convicted, Pollard faces a maximum of five years' imprisonment.

The case was investigated under Attorney General Merrick Garland's Election Threats Task Force, which was launched in June 2021 to address the rising number of violent threats directed a etlection officials following former President Donald Trump's 2020 election loss.

As of September, the task force had brought at least 18 cases to court, 11 of which resulted in sentences. The other cases were still pending trial though two had secured guilty pleas.