(The Center Square) – A Florida man has been sentenced to two years in prison for making threats toward Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold and other public figures.
Richard Kantwill, a dentist from Tampa, was charged in November on four counts of interstate transmission of a threat. He will also have three years of supervised release and must pay a $10,000 fine.
According to Griswold’s office, Kantwill referred to the secretary of state as the “number 1 target” in threats made on Feb. 9, 2024 after the U.S. Supreme Court heard the case Donald J. Trump v. Norma Anderson, in which Griswold was a respondent.
“Threats to try to intimidate election officials are unacceptable,” Griswold said in a statement Wednesday. “It’s important that threats like these are taken seriously and that bad actors are charged for their actions. I want to thank law enforcement and the prosecutors who brought this man to justice.”
Griswold has received over 2,300 threats since the court case was filed in September 2023, her office says.
The Supreme Court ruled in March 2024 that states can’t leave federal candidates off their ballots, making President Donald Trump eligible to appear on Colorado’s primary ballot.
The FBI investigated Kantwill, whose threats to other public figures date back to September 2019.
