(The Center Square) – An Ohio man charged in connection with a threatening voicemail left for Pennsylvania state Rep. Mark Gillen has been released on $50,000 bail and is scheduled to appear in Berks County Court next month, according to court documents.
According to a police affidavit, part of the voicemail left by a male caller on the morning of Dec. 17, stated ” … if Pennsylvania thinks they’re going to come after our guns,” followed by a pair of words that included an obscenity, followed by ” … blood will roll. You get it?”
Kenneth D. Yochum, 58, of Hamilton County, Ohio, was ordered held for court after a preliminary hearing Monday before Magisterial District Judge David Yoch. Yochum faces charges of terroristic threats, threats and other improper influence in official and political matters, and harassment. All are misdemeanors.
People close to the case said one of the court proceedings over the winter was put off because of a snowstorm.
The threat comes to light following a string of incidents of political violence in Pennsylvania and elsewhere over the last couple of years.
Then-presidential candidate Donald Trump was slightly wounded in the ear by a shooter at an outdoor rally in Butler County in July, 2024. About nine months later – hours after Gov. Josh Shapiro and his family had carried out an observance of the Jewish Passover holiday – they escaped a middle-of-the-night firebomb attack on the Governor’s Mansion in Harrisburg.
In June, Minnesota House of Representatives member and former speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband were murdered at their home. In September, conservative leader and Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk was shot to death at an outdoor event in Utah.
Gillen has represented part of Berks County in the state House for 15 years. He is currently running for re-election to another two-year term.
In an interview Tuesday, Gillen said the “visceral nature of modern politics” is more pronounced than ever. Because of inflammatory political speech, he said, the “licensing of personal attacks has become broad and pervasive.”
This is a developing story and will be updated
