Scott Haven Isn’t The First American This Year To Be Arrested For Threatening Members Of Congress
A man from Utah has been arrested on federal charges alleging that he made over 2,000 phone calls to Capitol Hill in a 13-month period. Said calls reportedly included multiple threats to kill members of Congress.
Per The Salt Lake Tribune, 54-year-old Scott Brian Haven has been charged with one count of interstate transmission of threats to injure. He faces up to five years in prison, if convicted.
Haven, authorities said, made at least seven calls that are considered direct threats to members of Congress, with Haven having purportedly threatened to “slice” the heads of two U.S. Senators. It has not been revealed which senators were the recipient of these threats. Have also allegedly mentioned abortion, apparently referring to certain members of Congress as “baby killers.”
Haven is not the first American to be arrested this year for threatening multiple members of Congress. In a similar case — back in April, per The Inquisitr — a 49-year-old man from Florida, John Kless, was arrested for directing threats at several Democratic politicians. The targets of these threats included Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, and California Rep. Eric Swalwell. Rep. Omar, meanwhile, was specifically referenced in the threatening calls Kless made to other politicians.
Cesar Sayoc, another Florida resident, pleaded guilty in March to having sent mail bombs to several prominent Democratic politicians, including former President Barack Obama, former Vice President Joseph Biden, former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and donors George Soros and Tom Steyer. None of the bombs actually went off, or hurt anyone, however. Sayoc’s arrest was a major news story late last year, and he ultimately pleaded guilty to more than 60 charges, per CNN.
"Utah man was arrested Tues 6/4/19 after police said he made more than 2,000 threatening phone calls to members of Congress over a 3-yr span.
AP reports Scott Haven is accused of frequently making calls to lawmakers who opposed or were critical of Trump"https://t.co/x9Rzw1da4n— Susan ? Whitney ? E Pluribus Unum ?Out of Many,One (@SMBWhitney) June 7, 2019
Per Quartz, arrests for threatening elected officials in the United States “spiked” in 2018, with 23 different prosecutions reported for threats against President Trump specifically.
Haven does not appear to have spoken to any of the elected officials directly, but reportedly rather spoke to staffers during his calls. Haven was visited by the FBI last November. He first denied that he had made the calls, but then admitted that he had made the calls “during periods of frustration with the way Democrats were treating President Trump.”
The calls continued after the FBI visit, leading to his arrest.
Per The Associated Press, when he was visited by the FBI, Haven told them they should instead be investigating groups like Black Lives Matter, instead of him.
