A Massachusetts man was sentenced to nine years and 11 months in federal prison for making antisemitic threats against US Rep. Randy Fine and his two children, the US Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida announced Wednesday.
Edwin Guerrero, 26, was also ordered to pay a $15,000 fine after pleading guilty in March to making interstate threats to injure another person.
Between August 10 and August 15, 2024, Guerrero used social media to make a series of antisemitic posts and threats targeting Fine, who at the time served in the Florida House of Representatives, according to court documents cited by the Justice Department.
The threats targeted both Fine and his two minor sons. In one post, sent from an IP address in Spain, Guerrero suggested he was traveling to Brevard County and attached an image of an individual appearing to hold a firearm.
Other posts contained violent threats against Fine and his sons, including references to the children as Jewish, according to the Justice Department. Some were accompanied by an image of a deceased man with significant head trauma.
Court finds threats were motivated by hate
Investigators determined that Guerrero was in Spain when the threats were made. After returning to the United States, he admitted during an interview with authorities that he had used his social media account to send the messages, according to the Justice Department.
A subsequent search of Guerrero's phone found a search history containing antisemitic and anti-Israel content.
During sentencing, US District Judge Anne-Leigh Gaylord Moe found that Guerrero's threats against Fine and his children were motivated by hate. The judge emphasized the seriousness of threats against Jews and the need to deter threats against elected officials and members of protected classes.
Fine told the court that Guerrero's threats involving his children had "made my blood run cold," according to the Justice Department.
"My boys are now victims of a crime," Fine said during the sentencing hearing. "I was afraid for me, and I was afraid for my boys."
Fine says son returned home to police protection
Fine addressed the sentencing in a post on X/Twitter on Wednesday, saying he had "never thought" his sons would become victims of a violent federal felony.
Fine said his son David returned home from his first day of junior high on August 14, 2024, to police officers who had arrived to protect him following the threats.
Fine described Guerrero as a "Muslim terrorist" in the post and said Guerrero had threatened to kill him and his sons.
"Threats against any elected official are unacceptable," Fine wrote, thanking the FBI, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Brevard County Sheriff's Office, the US Attorney's Office, and the federal judge involved in the case.
Fine added that the sentence should send a message to those who threaten elected officials or their families.
US Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe separately said threats against public officials or people targeted because of their political or religious beliefs would not be tolerated.
The FBI and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigated the case, and Assistant US Attorney Courtney Richardson-Jones prosecuted it.