DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Acting United States Attorney Edward R. Ryan
Western District of North Carolina

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JUNE 8, 2009

CONTACT: Suellen Pierce
704.338.3120
Fax: 704.227.0264

UNION COUNTY MAN SENTENCED TO JAIL FOR THREATS AGAINST THEN-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE BARACK OBAMA CHARLOTTE, NC B Jerry Michael Blanchard, 48, of Union County, North Carolina was sentenced to a year and one day in prison today for threatening, on two separate occasions in July 2008, to shoot and kill then-Senator and Presidential Candidate Barack Obama. Blanchard was also fined $3,000 and ordered to be placed under supervised release for three years following his prison term.

Federal law makes it illegal to threaten to harm or kill a major candidate for the office of President of the United States. In announcing the sentence, Edward R. Ryan, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina, said, “Threatening a candidate for public office attacks the integrity of our democratic system and is a criminal act. We will stop such criminals and see that they are punished.”The investigation was conducted by the U.S. Secret Service, and the prosecution was handled for the government by Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven R. Kaufman.