Former Georgia Poll Worker Pleads Guilty to Bomb Threat of Voting Location

MACON, Ga. – A former Georgia poll worker pleaded guilty to mailing a letter that threatened to bomb a Jones County precinct and harm poll workers and admitted to lying to the FBI during the investigation.

Nicholas Wimbish, 25, of Milledgeville, pleaded guilty to conveying false information about a bomb threat and making hoaxes before U.S. District Judge Marc Treadwell on Feb. 14. Wimbish faces a maximum of five years in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release and a maximum $250,000 fine. The sentencing hearing is scheduled for May 13. There is no parole in the federal system.

“Bomb hoaxes and similar threats create grave and unnecessary disruptions in our communities, pulling vital law enforcement resources and terrifying people,” said Acting U.S. Attorney C. Shanelle Booker. “Our office and law enforcement partners take these types of threats seriously and will pursue federal prosecution when warranted.”

“The FBI takes all threat-to-life matters very seriously,” said Supervisory Senior Resident Agent Robert Gibbs of FBI Atlanta’s Macon office. “This arrest demonstrates the FBI’s commitment to hold accountable anyone who tries to intimidate a public official or interfere with the elections process.”

According to court documents and statements referenced in court, Wimbish was employed as a poll worker at the Jones County Elections Office in Gray, Georgia, on Oct. 16, 2024, when he had a verbal altercation with a voter. Later that evening and into the early hours of Oct. 17, 2024, Wimbish conducted relevant online research and then drafted a letter posing as the voter threatening to bomb the polling place. Wimbish mailed the threatening letter to the Jones County Elections Superintendent from a “Jones County Voter” on Oct. 17, 2024. It arrived at the election office on Oct. 22, 2024.

Wimbish admitted he intended the letter to appear as if it came from the voter and added details to make it seem like the voter was targeting Wimbish and other poll workers. For example, it said, "Yesterday I had your young liberal woke idiot Nicholas Wimbish give me hell," that "he tries to influence peoples votes in line," and that "I researched a newspaper article about Nicholas Wimbish and other woke liberal fraudsters impostering to be patriots." The letter threatened that Wimbish and others "should look over their shoulder," that "I know where they all go," that "I know where they all live because I found home voting addresses for all them," that "the liberal young men will get beatdown if they fight me," that "they will get the treason punishment by firing squad if they fight back," and that "they should watch every move they make looking over their shoulder." Further, the letter threatened to "rage rape" the "ladies" and warned them to "watch every move they make and look over their shoulder." Below the typewritten letter, Wimbish wrote a note by hand, "PS boom toy in early vote place, cigar burning, be safe." Wimbish admitted he knew that a "boom toy" was a term for an explosive device. Wimbish also acknowledged that he lied to FBI agents investigating the mailed threat and falsely stated that he believed the Jones County voter sent the letter and that he had not conducted online research on himself. The letter was found on Wimbish's computer.

The FBI Atlanta Field Office investigated the case.

Deputy Criminal Chief William R. "Will" Keyes and Trial Attorney Madison Mumma of the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section (PIN) are prosecuting the case for the Government with assistance from Senior Counsel Ryan Dickey of the DOJ’s Criminal Division's Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS).