A Georgia poll worker was arrested Monday and charged with making a bomb threat in a letter to a county elections chief, which he attempted to pass off as coming from a voter with whom he allegedly engaged in a verbal altercation, federal prosecutors said.
The trouble in the critical swing state came as Nicholas Wimbish, 25, was serving as a poll worker at the Jones County Election Office on Oct. 16, when an argument between him and a voter allegedly ensued on the second day of early voting, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Georgia.
Wimbish later that evening researched himself online to determine what information would be publicly available, before mailing a letter to the Jones County Elections Superintendent the following day purporting to be from a “Jones County Voter,” a news release states.
ALSO READ: Female Donald Trump' among New York Republicans — and Dems — running on 'law and order'
“The letter was allegedly drafted to make it appear as if it came from the voter, such as by stating that Wimbish had ‘give[n] me hell’ and that Wimbish was ‘conspiring votes’ and ‘distracting voters from concentrating.’ The letter threatened that Wimbish and others ‘should look over their shoulder,’ that ‘I know where they go,’ that ‘I know where they all live because I found home voting addresses for all them,’ and that the ‘young men will get beatdown if they fight me’ and ‘will get the treason punishment by firing squad if they fight back.’ Further, the letter threatened to ‘rage rape’ the ‘ladies’ and warned them to ‘watch every move they make and look over their shoulder.’ The letter concluded with a handwritten note, ‘PS boom toy in early vote place, cigar burning, be safe,’” the U.S. Attorney said.
Wimbish, of Milledgeville, Georgia, about 100 miles southeast of downtown Atlanta, is charged with mailing a bomb threat, conveying false information about a bomb threat, mailing a threatening letter, and making false statements to the FBI. He faces up to 25 years in prison.