An East Bay man has been sentenced to eleven months behind bars for threatening violence against former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. David Allen Carrier, 44, of Concord, pled guilty to two counts of making threats against federal officials, landing him the prison term plus a subsequent three years of supervised release.

Carrier, who was indicted by a grand jury on September 12, 2023, made a threatening call to Pelosi's office voicemail on January 21, 2021, and another to a Homeland Security hotline on June 30, 2022. He has been ordered to not only serve time but also to completely stay away from Pelosi and Mayorkas, and to seek mental health and substance abuse treatment following his incarceration.

"Participating in the public political conversation is an important right for all citizens," U.S. Attorney Ismail J. Ramsey stated in a release by the Justice Department. "Nevertheless, threatening our public servants is not protected by the First Amendment and corrodes our ability to engage in peaceful and important public discourse. This Office will not tolerate behavior that crosses the line to criminal threats."

Emphasizing the gravity of such offenses, FBI Special Agent in Charge Robert Tripp said, "Violent threats targeting elected officials also threaten our democratic system. Today's sentence demonstrates that anyone who sends politically motivated threats of violence to government officials will be investigated by the FBI and held accountable." The FBI, in conjunction with the U.S. Secret Service and the U.S. Attorney's Office, has worked closely to genuinely evaluate and eventually prosecute the threats made against these leaders, ensuring such menacing behaviors are met with full consequences of the law.

In addition to the law enforcement agencies, the National Security and Cybercrime Section prosecuted the case against Carrier. The coordination between these agencies highlights the seriousness with which threats to public officials are taken and the commitment to safeguarding the people who serve at the highest levels of government.