Man Sentenced For Threatening Violence Against LA Legislator

LOS ANGELES, CA — A 61-year-old man was sentenced to 33 months in federal prison for making numerous threatening phone calls to U.S. Representative Maxine Waters, D-Los Angeles, because of her race.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Brian Michael Gaherty of Houston admitted to threatening to assault and murder Waters on four separate occasions in August and November of 2022. The threats were intended to intimidate and interfere with Waters while she performed her official duties, the DOJ said.

“Threats to harm or kill elected officials are anathema to our nation’s values and must not — and will not — be tolerated,” said United States Attorney Martin Estrada. “My office and the entire Department of Justice will continue to combat threats against public officials and other attempts to chill democracy.”

Each of the four times, Gaherty left voicemails at Waters' district office in LA County that contained a violent threat, profanity and racist and misogynistic language, the DOJ said. Specifically, in August 2022, Gaherty threatened to "put a cap between the congresswoman's eyes," cut her throat and stomp her.

In the message, Gaherty warned that Waters better move because he and his "boys in the area" had a contract on her life.

Authorities attempted to warn Gaherty to disengage in October 2022, but he persisted with his violent threats a few weeks later. In November, Gaherty left two additional voicemails telling Waters she made a mistake by reporting him to law enforcement.

"This ain't no threat. It's a ...promise," Gaherty said in the voicemail.

He also threatened to meet Waters "on the street" and "get in [her] face" and, once again, told her that he and his "crowd" had a contract to kill her. He warned Waters to "watch her back," the DOJ said.

Gaherty pleaded guilty on Jan. 29 of this year to one count of threatening a United States official. He was fined $10,000 and a judge applied a hate-crime enhancement to Gaherty's sentence.

This was not the first time that Waters was the target of violent threats. In 2018 a San Pedro man was sentenced to three years for threatening to kill the congresswoman when he heard a report in which Waters made disparaging comments about former U.S. President Donald Trump.

Also in 2018, a far-right militia group known as the Oath Keepers, issued a "call to action" to its members, urging them to protest outside Waters' office. The group also criticized Waters' comments against the former President.

The group never ended up showing up to go through with the protest at Waters' office.