Ex-Tucson teacher who made death threat against state Sen. Wendy Rogers sentenced to prison

A former middle school music teacher was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison for making a death threat against state Sen. Wendy Rogers in 2022.

Donald Glenn Brown, who resigned from the Tucson Unified School District after he was charged, pleaded guilty in April to attempting to make a terroristic threat, a Class 4 felony. Navajo County Superior Court Judge Joseph Clark sentenced Brown at a hearing Tuesday in Holbrook.

Brown was charged after he sent an email to the Trumped Store in Show Low on July 4 from a fake account with the subject line "Wendy Rogers is going to (expletive) die," according to a Department of Public Safety report. Rogers was in Show Low for the Independence Day parade.

The expletive-laden email, which appeared to come from a "Jessica James," stated that "Jim and Jessica" were parked at a fast-food store next to the Trumped Store with "a pair of AR-15s."

"We are going to walk in your … joke of a store, and start shooting," the email said. Brown threatened to shoot Rogers — whom he called a "traitor" — in the head before shooting up the store.

Rogers, R-Flagstaff, and the owners of the Trumped Store attended the sentencing and asked the judge to impose a prison sentence rather than probation, according to the Navajo County Attorney's Office.

“Hopefully, today’s sentence sends the message to the community that threats of harm to others won’t be tolerated, whether they be threats against state legislators, election officials or your neighbor," County Attorney Brad Carlyon said.

Rogers reacted to the sentencing on social media, writing "JUSTICE SERVED," and adding that the judge, "ruled in favor of my constituents, who elected me to fight for them. He understood that a threat on my life was a direct threat to them and their representation in a constitutional republic."

Defendant 'utterly and terribly ashamed'

In a statement to the court included in a presentence report, Brown wrote that he read several social media messages, presumably from Rogers, that were "deeply offensive" and that he "responded by making an ugly, violent, profane, threatening message. It was a mistake I made in a few moments of impulsive, foolish, angry carelessness."

He wrote that he was "utterly and terribly ashamed" of his actions and had no intent of acting upon them. Authorities said they believe he sent the email from his mother's house near Show Low. No weapons were found there or at his Tucson apartment, according to the presentence report.

Brown has no prior record. After resigning from his teaching position, Brown moved to the White Mountains, where he lives with his mother and brother, according to the report.

Rogers referenced the threat at a recent hearing where she failed to convince a judge to extend a restraining order against a reporter who knocked on the doors of her Valley homes.

Wyatt Buchanan is an editor at The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com. You can reach him at wyatt.buchanan@arizonarepublic.com.

Reach reporter Ray Stern at rstern@arizonarepublic.com or 480-276-3237. Follow him on Twitter @raystern.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Donald Brown will go to prison for threatening state Sen. Wendy Rogers