The Associated Press
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A California man angry about health care reform allegedly made threatening and harassing phone calls to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, including at least one call in which he got through and spoke to her directly, law enforcement officials said.
Gregory Lee Giusti, 48, was arrested today at his San Francisco home, said Joseph Schadler, spokesman for the FBI’s San Francisco office. Schadler would not disclose the charges against Giusti, saying they were under seal until his first appearance before a federal magistrate, scheduled for Thursday.
The arrest came a day after a Washington state man was arrested for allegedly leaving threatening voice mails for U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, and as other Democratic lawmakers have faced vicious verbal attacks over their support of the historic health care overhaul.
Several federal officials said Giusti made dozens of calls to Pelosi’s homes in California and Washington, D.C., as well as to her husband’s business office. They said he recited her home address and said if she wanted to see it again, she would not support the health care overhaul bill that since has been enacted.
One official said the man is believed to have spoken directly with Pelosi at least once.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case publicly.
Giusti has been in trouble previously for making threats. In 2004, he pleaded no contest in San Mateo County, just south of San Francisco, to a felony charge of making criminal threats and was sentenced to a year in jail and three years of supervised probation. Other details of that case were not immediately available.
A statement from Pelosi’s spokesman Wednesday praised the efforts of law enforcement and said the House Speaker would have no further comment “at this time.”
Charges also have been filed against a Philadelphia man who allegedly made a YouTube video threatening Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va.
Earlier report:
A Selah man has been charged with threatening to kill Democratic Sen. Patty Murray over her support for health care reform, leaving voice mail messages at her office saying she had a target on her back and “it only takes one piece of lead.”
Federal agents arrested Charles Alan Wilson, 63, without incident in Yakima on Tuesday.
Murray’s office in Seattle reported the threats amid a rash of ugliness aimed at lawmakers — including Sen. Maria Cantwell — who supported the sweeping federal health care legislation.
Some lawmakers have been spit on and several have reported receiving threatening calls.
FBI spokesman Bill Carter said Wilson is believed to be the first person in the country arrested for such threats.
The messages to Murray, D-Freeland, were left on voice mail from a blocked telephone number, FBI Special Agent Carolyn W. Woodbury wrote in a probable cause statement.
Agents trace call
Agents said they traced the calls to Wilson’s home in Selah, near Yakima.
Wilson has a .38-caliber revolver registered to him and has a concealed weapons permit, Woodbury wrote.
To confirm Wilson was the caller, one agent telephoned him and posed as a member of a group working to repeal the health care legislation, the statement said.
According to an excerpt of the conversation, Wilson confirmed he repeatedly called Murray as well as Washington’s other Democratic senator, Maria Cantwell of Mountlake Terrace.
He then stated: “I do pack, and I will not blink when I’m confronted. . . . It’s not a threat, it’s a guarantee.”
Murray’s office told the FBI it had been receiving harassing messages from the caller for months, but they became more threatening as Congress was voting on the health care legislation.
“There’s a target on your back now,” said one message on March 22.
“It only takes one piece of lead. Kill the (expletive) senator! . . . Now that you’ve passed your health-care bill, let the violence begin.”
In other rambling messages over the next several days, the caller said, “I hope somebody puts a (expletive) bullet between your (expletive) eyes,” and “I do believe that every one of you (expletive) socialist democratic progressive (expletive) need to be taken out.”
And, he said, “I want to (expletive) kill you.”
Appeared in court
Wilson made an initial appearance at federal court in Yakima on Tuesday on one count of threatening a federal official.
He was appointed a public defender for the hearing and ordered to be kept in custody pending a detention hearing set for Friday.
His sister, Helen Evans, 60, of Yakima, attended the hearing and said her brother had no history of making threats.
She last saw him a couple of weeks ago, she said, and they spoke about snowmobiling.
“Obviously my brother crossed over a line, if this is true,” she said.
“But also, what can I believe when I read it? I’m not going to judge or make any assessments until I talk to him.”
Murray declined to comment on the case but told reporters outside an event in Seattle on Tuesday that she feels safe.
“Health care reform and health care is very personal,” Murray said.
“As gradually this goes into effect, people will start to say, ‘Wow, I didn’t know that was going to help me.’ Even those who are opposed and angry today, this bill helps them.”
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