Man left 17 voicemails with murder threats against Alaska’s two senators, feds say

An Alaska man pleaded guilty to federal charges after he was accused of directing murder threats at the state’s two senators, the Department of Justice said in a Jan. 4 news release.

On Sept. 2, the office of Sen. Lisa Murkowski alerted law enforcement about a threatening voicemail left at her Washington, D.C., office. In the voicemail, Jay Allen Johnson, 65, said he would “burn everything you hope to have, and burn everything you hope to own,” according to the criminal complaint.

He also said that he would use his “veteran’s skills” and a .50 caliber shell against the senator, the complaint says.

“You ever see what that does to a f---ing human head?” Johnson said in the message, according to court documents.

Johnson left Murkowski another voicemail on Sept. 29, threatening to hire an assassin to kill her, according to the news release. He also told her to “resign or get the f--- gone, or die,” the criminal complaint said.

Law enforcement tracked the phone number and identified Johnson as the caller, the complaint said.

Earlier in the year, from April to September, Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan received 13 voice messages from Johnson. Johnson identified himself by name in several messages and included a P.O. box address in one of them, the complaint said.

In those messages, Johnson threatened to get his “.50 caliber out,” said he would hold a “GoFundMe page for the … shells,” and that he planned to come “with a vengeance motherf---er,” the release said.

Johnson was arrested Oct. 4, Alaska Public Media reported.

He admitted to leaving 17 threatening voice messages for the senators and said they were intended to retaliate against them for performing their duties as elected officials, the release said. He pleaded guilty to two counts of threatening to murder a U.S. official and faces up to 10 years in federal prison for each count, the DOJ said in the release.

Johnson may also have to forfeit his seven firearms, which FBI agents discovered in his home, and may be issued a protective order after being released from federal prison that would prohibit him from contacting either senator, their families or their staff members for three years, the release said.

Johnson’s sentencing is scheduled for April 8, 2022. His attorneys did not immediately respond to a request for comment from McClatchy News on Jan. 5.

Murkowski and Sullivan are Republicans. Murkowski was first elected in 2002, and Sullivan in 2014.