Rochester Woman Sentenced for Threatening to Kill the President

     ROCHESTER, N.Y.--U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that Christine Wright-Darrisaw, 38, of Rochester, N.Y., who was convicted following a jury trial of making a direct threat to kill the President of the United States and then lying to United States Secret Service Agents investigating the case, was sentenced to 33 months in prison today by U. S. District Court Judge Frank P Geraci.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Craig R. Gestring and Grace M. Carducci, who handled the prosecution of the case, stated that the defendant threatened to kill President Barack Obama during a telephone call to the White House on February 24, 2012. At trial, the Government called the White House Operator who took the call from the defendant and she graphically described the “brutality” and the “violence” of Darrisaw’s words. The Operator stated that she has answered thousands of calls while serving as an operator with the White House Comments Line, but that this call stood out in her memory, almost two years later.

Secret Service Agents from Washington and Rochester also testified at trial about their investigation and how they were able to identify the defendant as a suspect. Agents in Rochester linked Wright-Darrisaw to the cellular telephone used to make the threat, and conducted an interview with her. During that interview, the defendant made several false statements to the Secret Service which were material to and impacted their investigation.

The sentencing is the culmination of an investigation on the part of Special Agents of the United States Secret Service, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge, Tracy Gast.