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A Florida man was sentenced to two years in prison on Wednesday for threatening to kill California representative Eric Swalwell and his children late last year.
Michael Shapiro, 72, of Greenacres, left a series of alarming voicemails with Swalwell’s office on 19 December, threatening to kill the Democrat representative and his children, as well as calling him a “Chinese spy.”
In one of the five expletive-filled messages, Shapiro spat, “I’m gonna come after you and kill you,” and in another, “I’m gonna come and kill your children.”
He also called Swalwell the N-word at least twice, and repeated the phrase “Fang” multiple times.
This was Shapiro seemingly referring to suspected Chinese spy Christina Fang, also known as Fang Fang, who reportedly raised funds for Swalwell’s 2014 re-election campaign and interacted with him at a number of events.
After a two-year investigation, the House Ethics Committee closed the case in May 2023, saying it would take no further action.
Swalwell cut ties to Fang in 2015 after US intelligence officials became concerned about Swalwell’s ties to Fang and provided him with a “defensive briefing.”
Authorities arrested Shapiro in January after connecting him to the voicemails by tracing the phone number to his Florida home.
He claimed he only remembered calling Swalwell’s office once in a “single drunken episode,” but did not recall making any threats, his attorney saying he made the calls after a night of heavy drinking.
Court documents reveal Shapiro was involved as a suspect in three prior threat cases, one of which he pleaded guilty to in 2019, earning him three years’ probation.
One of those calls was to the US Capitol Police Threat Assessment Section and another to a different US representative, per NBC News.
This is one of a string of threats Swalwell claims to have faced in recent years, as in 2022 he said a member of his staff received call from a man threatening to kill Swalwell with an assault rifle in his congressional office.
The following year, he shared message from an X (formally known as Twitter) account which appeared to belong to former San Francisco 49ers and Jacksonville Jaguars fullback Bruce Miller.
The message read, “Almost time!!! Would you rather Guantanamo or just execution,” followed by several laughing emojis before ending with “f****n traitor.”
Salwell has long claimed that his criticism of former president Donald Trump and former speaker Kevin McCarthy is what has made him the target of violent threats.
