Alleged threats to Maricopa County election workers leave man facing 25 years in prison

Federal officials arrested a man Wednesday on suspicion of sending threatening messages to election workers with Maricopa County Elections, according to a Department of Justice news release.

Brian Jerry Ogstad, 59, was arrested in Cullman, Alabama, and made an initial appearance in federal court Wednesday. An indictment, which was unsealed Wednesday, alleges Ogstad sent messages over social media that explicitly threatened the lives of election workers, the release stated.

The indictment alleges Ogstad referenced claims of voter fraud in Arizona’s 2022 gubernatorial race and allegedly made threats to election workers and officials.

U.S. Attorney Gary M. Restaino for the District of Arizona said in the release he refuses to allow threats of vigilante justice by election skeptics.

“We will continue to prosecute true threats against Arizona’s election officials and other public servants, including direct messages sent on social media, or communications in any other format,” Restaino said.

Ogstad faces charges of five counts of communicating an interstate threat in the indictment. If he is convicted on all counts, he faces a maximum sentence of 25 years in federal prison.

“The FBI takes all threats of violence seriously,” Special Agent in Charge Akil Davis, of the FBI Phoenix field office, said in the release. “The work of election officials, their staffs, and volunteers is essential to our democracy and any threat to these public servants is completely unacceptable."

This case is part of the Justice Department’s Election Threats Task Force, a recently created division that assesses threats against election workers in partnership with FBI Field Offices and U.S. Attorneys’ Offices throughout the country.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Man accused of threating Maricopa County election workers indicted