PITTSBURGH, Pa. (WKBN) — A Mercer Borough man who pleaded guilty in June for threatening federal law enforcement officials was sentenced Wednesday to two years in prison.
Adam Bies, 47, received the sentence from U.S. Judge William S. Stickman in the U.S. Western District Court of Pennsylvania following guilty pleas to 14 counts of interstate threats and influencing or retaliating against a federal officer by threat.
Bies was accused of threatening FBI agents after they searched the Florida home of former President Donald Trump in August 2022.
Bies has been held in federal detention shortly after his Aug. 16, 2022, indictment by a federal grand jury.
Court documents said Bies posted a threat Aug. 11, 2022, online saying: “My only goal is to kill more of them before I drop” and “If You Work For The FBI Then You Deserve To Die.”
The day before, Bies is accused of writing “Every single piece of [expletive] who works for the FBI in any capacity, from the director down to the janitor who cleans their [expletive] toilets deserves to die. You’ve declared war on us and now it’s open season on YOU.”
The threats were posted on Gab.com.
In a sentencing memorandum, Bies’ attorney, Sarah Levin, said her client knows he went too far and he accepted the past 14 months he has spent in detention as punishment. She wrote she did not think more jail time was necessary.
Levin wrote that Levin’s friends described him as a ranter who is “passionate about politics” but would never resort to violence.
Federal prosecutors were seeking a sentence of between 30 and 37 months, according to their sentencing memorandum.
