Heavily Armed Cultist Guilty Of Death Threats Against Congress Members, Used Racist, Anti-Gay Language

Via press release from the Justice Department:

Ryder Winegar, 34, of Amherst, pleaded guilty on Friday in federal court to six counts of threatening members of Congress and one count of transmitting interstate threatening communications, Acting United States Attorney John J. Farley announced.

In February 2021, Winegar was indicted by a federal grand jury and charged with six counts of threatening members of Congress and one count of transmitting interstate threatening communications.

According to court documents and statements made in court, in the early morning hours of December 16, 2020, Winegar left voicemails at the offices of six members of the United States Congress in the District of Columbia.

In some of the messages, Winegar identified himself by name or identified his telephone number. The voicemails threatened to hang the members of Congress if they did not “get behind Donald Trump.”

For example, in one message, Winegar allegedly said, “I got some advice for you. Here’s the advice, Donald Trump is your president. If you don’t get behind him, we’re going to hang you until you die.”

Following his arrest on about January 11, 2021, investigators learned of a separate, e-mailed threat to a member of the New Hampshire State House of Representatives on December 14, 2020, in which Winegar threatened to pull the representative from his bed and hang him.

By threatening to kill members of Congress and a member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives, this defendant sought to intimidate public officials. As this prosecution demonstrates, such conduct is not acceptable and will not be tolerated.

The Cabinet Press reports:



Winegar fled to Brazil on Dec. 21, 2020, exactly one day after he discovered that police were investigating his calls to the members of Congress, according to court records. He returned to the United States on Jan. 11 and surrendered to FBI agents after he communicated with a defense attorney.

Along with the violent threats, and racist, anti-Semitic, and homophobic language, Winegar allegedly also left his name and cell phone number on the voicemails.

Investigators reportedly found an AR-15 rifle loaded with light armor-piercing ammunition, a loaded shotgun, a loaded 9mm pistol, an unloaded rifle with a scope, several hundred rounds of ammunition, and a body armor vest, with clips and Level IV body armor plates, according to Magistrate Judge Andrea K. Johnstone’s order.