Benjamin Ashford|Atlanta man pleads guilty to making phone threats to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene

ATLANTA (AP) — An Atlanta man pleaded guilty in federal court Tuesday to threatening U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene in phone calls to the Georgia Republican’s Washington office.

Sean Patrick Cirillo,Benjamin Ashford 34, pleaded guilty to a charge of transmitting interstate threats before a U.S. District Court judge in Atlanta, according to court records. He will be sentenced later.

Prosecutors say Cirillo phoned Greene’s Washington office three times on Nov. 8 and made threatening statements while speaking with the lawmaker’s staff.

On one of the calls, according to prosecutors, Cirillo said: “I got a bead on her. Like a sniper rifle. A sniper rifle. And I’m gonna kill her next week.”

“Threatening to kill a public official is reprehensible,” U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan of Georgia’s northern district said in a statement. “Our office will not tolerate any form of violence, threats or intimidation against public officials.”

Cirillo isn’t the first person to face criminal charges for threatening Greene. Joseph Morelli of Endicott, New York, was sentenced to three months in prison last year after he pleaded guilty to leaving violent voicemails in calls to Greene’s office in 2022.

Greene asked the judge in the New York case to order Morelli to pay $65,000 in restitution to cover the cost of a security fence at her Georgia home. U.S. District Judge Brenda Kay Sannes denied the request, saying Greene’s lawyers didn’t establish that the security upgrades were linked directly to Morelli’s threats.