The Georgia man who texted friend and family members that he was thinking of “putting a bullet” in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D) “noggin” the day after a mob of Donald Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol building has been sentenced to 28 months in prison.
Cleveland Grover Meredith, Jr. pleaded guilty in September to one count of making threats on Jan. 7. He had driven from Colorado, where he was vacationing with his sons, to Washington, D.C., with a truck loaded with ammunition and firearms, and was texting friends and family members about the violent plans he was making for when he got there.
He requested time served and probation.
“It needs to be made crystal clear that it is not patriotism to descend on the nation’s Capitol at the direction of a disappointed candidate and threaten members of the other party,” U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson said at the hearing Tuesday.
Meredith, 53, arrived in Washington a day too late for the Capitol attack. He was stuck in Ohio due to car trouble, but according to the complaint against him, he had violent plans to attack Speaker Pelosi.
“[H]eaded to DC with a. shit ton of 5.56 armor piercing ammo [purple devil emoji],” he wrote in one text. “Thinking about heading over to Pelosi C**T’s speech and putting a bullet in her noggin on Live TV [purple devil emoji],” he wrote in another. Both texts went to the same person, who is not identified in the complaint.
“You get that one Mr. Marxist FBI Agent? Go FK yourself,” he also texted in an apparent taunt to the federal government.
Pelosi wasn’t his only target; of DC Mayor Muriel Bowser (D), Meredith texted: “I may wander over to the Mayor’s office and put a 5.56 in her skull, FKG c**t.” He also wrote, “I hope you’re reading this Mr. FBI agent, FK U.”
Meanwhile, Meredith’s friends and family were begging him to dial it down.
“I think Trump wants you to go home peacefully!!” someone texted him. “Ok, but please stop talking like that. Pretty please,” read another text.
Meredith disregarded these pleas, and doubled down.
“Bullshit, [Trump] wants HEADS and I’m gonna deliver,” he texted.
“It ain’t just me, someone has to take the TRASH out, FK THESE MTHRFKRS,” he added.
Meredith’s family grew so concerned that they reported him to the police.
Meredith’s defense attorney Paul Kiyonaga argued that Meredith wasn’t serious, citing as evidence that he wrote “LOL” after some of his comments.
Judge Jackson wasn’t laughing.
“It wasn’t funny,” said Jackson, a Barack Obama appointee. “Not one text inspires people to smile, much less laugh out loud.” Jackson says “LOL” in this context could mean “Wouldn’t that be a hoot?”
“There’s nothing soothing about ‘I would like to put a bullet in her head ha ha ha,'” she added.
Meredith’s defense lawyer, along with his family and friends, told Jackson that he showed potential as a young man, but had lost his way due to mental health issues and trauma, but it wasn’t enough to convince Jackson.
“I’m told he was a good boy, a good young man,” she said. “But I am presented today with a man in his 50s.”
Jackson said that Meredith should serve his time in a facility close to his family members in Georgia.
🚨 SENTENCE: U.S. District Judge Amy B. Jackson sentences Cleveland Grover Meredith Jr. to 28 months in prison (w/ credit for 11 served) to be followed by 36 months supervised release for one count of transmitting threats in interstate commerce. #CapitolRiot @wusa9 @11AliveNews pic.twitter.com/TS4v6wBCyM
— Jordan Fischer (@JordanOnRecord) December 14, 2021
You can read the government’s exhibit containing Meredith’s texts to family members on Jan. 6 and Jan. 7 below.
[Image via FBI]
