Mechanicsburg man sentenced for threatening to kill U.S. congressman, committing online fraud

Dec. 21—A Mechanicsburg man was sentenced to 20 months in federal prison and three years supervised release for threatening to kill a U.S. congressman and for fraudulently raising funds online for a fictitious political organization, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York announced Monday.

Joshua Hall was sentenced Monday by U.S. District Judge Gregory Woods. He had pleaded guilty to one count of making interstate communication with a threat to injure and one count of wire fraud.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said Monday that Hall while in New York placed a series of telephone calls on Aug. 29 to the California office of a member of U.S. Congress, whom he did not name, and Hall conveyed threats to kill the congressman to at least three different staff members.

Hall reportedly said he had a lot of AR-15s, with which he would shoot the congressman if he saw him, that he would beat him and that he would find him and hurt him. One staff member reported that Hall said he intended to come to the office to kill the congressman with firearms.

Hall was also sentenced in a fraud in which he defrauded hundreds of victims between September 2019 and December 2020 by raising funds for a political organization for the purpose of supporting the re-election of then-President Donald Trump. However, that organization didn't exist, and Hall used the funds for his personal living expenses, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

As part of the scheme, Hall impersonated members of Trump's family, including Barron Trump, a minor, through the use of social media accounts bearing their names and photographs, Williams said in a news release. Hall amassed more than 100,000 followers and used that to encourage victims to make monetary contributions to the fake political organization.

The U.S. Attorney's Office said that Hall was able to collect thousands of dollars from hundreds of victims across the country.

Email Naomi Creason at ncreason@cumberlink.com or follow her on Twitter

@SentinelCreason.

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