Howard County Man Charged With Making Threats Against Member of Congress
A Howard County man has been charged in U.S. District Court with making threats against a member of Congress.
Sidhartha Kumar Mathur, 34, of West Friendship, was charged this week and arrested Wednesday.
Mathur is charged with leaving a threatening voicemail message at the Maryland district office of a member of the House of Representatives on Dec. 10.
According to prosecutors, the message said: “I am going to kill you if you mess with my vote…” and similar threatening statements.
An investigation revealed that the call came from a cell phone number used by Mathur and the account’s billing address was Mathur’s residence, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
On the same day, a message sent through the lawmaker’s website conveyed similar threats and was tracked back to Mathur’s home, prosecutors allege.
On Wednesday, law enforcement officers at Mathur’s residence seized his phone, computer, and other electronic media.
If convicted, Mathur faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison for making threats against a federal official.
Federal prosecutors did not disclose the member of Congress who was the target of the threats.
Danielle E. Gaines
Contributor
Danielle Gaines worked for Maryland Matters from September 2018 to January 2024. She covered government and politics for Maryland Matters for two years before moving into an editing position, ultimately serving as editor-in-chief for nearly three years. Previously, she spent six years at The Frederick News-Post ― as the paper’s principal government and politics reporter for half that time, covering courts and legal affairs before that. She also reported for the now-defunct The Gazette of Politics and Business in Maryland and previously worked as a county government and education reporter at The Merced Sun-Star in California’s Central Valley.
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