A Shepherd man was convicted Wednesday of threatening to harm former U.S. Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy in numerous harassing phone calls to federal agencies, including McCarthy's office, according to U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich of Montana.
Richard Lee Rogers, 45, was found guilty of threatening a member of Congress and two counts of harassing telephone calls following a three-day trial by jury, according to a news release from Laslovich's office.
Federal prosecutors alleged that Rogers made repeated calls on Feb. 3, 2023, to staffers at the office of McCarthy, a Republican from California. In one of those calls, the jury found that Rogers threatened to assault McCarthy, according to Laslovich.
U.S. Capitol Police investigators determined that Rogers had called McCarthy's office 147 times in 75 minutes on that day. Staffer told investigators that he identified himself by name and said he lived in Billings, and his comments started as sexual in nature before devolving into threats.
McCarthy was ousted as Speaker in October 2023 by his fellow Republicans and resigned his seat in Congress at the end of the year.
In addition, Rogers placed at least 150 harassing call to operators at at the FBI’s National Threat Operations Center (NTOC) between Dec. 31, 2021 and Oct. 13, 2022. Operators told investigators that he provided his phone number and address, and he berated and swore at them, according to Laslovich's office.
During the investigation, an FBI agent contacted Rogers on Oct. 13, 2022, and Rogers admitted to called the threat operations center "thousands of times" and expressing anger at multiple political officials, according to Laslovich.
Rogers faces a maximum of six years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release on the charges related to the McCarthy threats, and an additional maximum of two years in prison, a $250,000 fine and one year of supervised release for the harassing calls.
Sentencing is set for Jan. 31, 2025. His release was continued pending further proceedings.
U.S. District Judge Susan P. Watters presided.
