Bleckley County Man Pleads Guilty In Federal Court To Making Threats Against Two United States Senators

MACON: Charles E. Peeler, United States Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia, announces that Jason Kenneth Bell, aged 41, from Cochran, Bleckley County, Georgia, entered a plea of guilty on May 1, 2018 to two counts of Anonymous Telecommunications Harassment. Mr. Bell entered his plea in Macon before U.S. District Court Judge Marc T. Treadwell.

Facts stipulated in the plea agreement show that on March 1, 2017, Mr. Bell called the Western New York Office of New York Senator, Charles Schumer in Buffalo, New York. He left several messages within an hour after first speaking with an intern at that office. Mr. Bell did not identify himself in these calls but stated he would physically injure Senator Schumer.

Mr. Bell further admitted that on or about October 23, 2017, he called the Office of United States Senator Timothy Scott and, without identifying himself, used profanity to state he would physically injure Senator Scott.    During that call, Defendant also asked “are we as a white people supposed to just stand for this injustice or do we do what Dylann Roof did?” referring to the self-declared white supremacist convicted of murdering nine African-American worshipers and attempting to murder more at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina in 2015.

“Mr. Bell’s decision to threaten and harass two United States Senators will not be tolerated in the Middle District of Georgia.  Indeed, there is no place in our Country for this conduct,” said Charles Peeler, United States Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia.  

Sentencing for Mr. Bell is scheduled for August 29, 2018.  He faces a maximum sentence of 2 years imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, or both, on each count.

The case was investigated by the Macon Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation with assistance from the United States Capitol Police in Washington, D.C. Assistant United States Attorney C. Shanelle Booker is prosecuting the case for the United States.

Questions concerning this case should be directed to Pamela Lightsey, Public Information Officer, United States Attorney’s Office, at (478) 621-2603.