WASHINGTON -- A Florida man pleads guilty to racially motivated interference with an election in Virginia, as well as cyberstalking an autistic child.
The Justice Department says 31 year old Daniel McMahon of Brandon pled guilty Thursday to one count of threatening an African American city council candidate in Charlottesville, Virginia... admitting that the candidate's race led him to post threats and racial slurs on the social media site Gab.
“Although the First Amendment protects, without qualification, an individual’s right to hold and express abhorrent political views, it does not license threats of violence,” Western District of Virginia U.S. Attorney Thomas Cullen said.
At a hearing Thursday, McMahon admitted using online pseudonyms such as "Pale Horse" to promote white supremacy and white nationalism, and to express support for racially motivated violence. McMahon admitted that he used one "sock puppet" account to threaten an African-American candidate for the Charlottesville city council in January 2019. McMahon's statement acknowledged that he intended the victim to understand his posts as a threat.
McMahon also admitted using Facebook to send threatening messages aimed at a woman who opposed his white supremacist rhetoric. Those included threats to sexually assault the victim's autistic daughter. McMahon also admitted using the internet to conduct searches related to sexual contact with autistic girls.
McMahon will be sentenced on July 23rd. He faces a maximum sentence of one year in prison for threatening D.G. and five years in prison for cyberstalking.
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida took part in the prosecution.
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