May 25th, 2022 by WCBC Radio

A West Virginia man pleaded guilty Monday to sending emails that threatened Dr. Anthony Fauci and former National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins, federal prosecutors in Maryland said.

Thomas Patrick Connally Jr., 56, most recently of Snowshoe, West Virginia, pleaded guilty to making threats against a federal official, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland Erek L. Barron announced in a news release. Connally also admitted threatening former Pennsylvania Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine, a Massachusetts public health official and a religious leader in New Jersey.

Beginning in December 2020 and up to just days before being arrested in July 2021 in West Virginia and charged, Connally used an encrypted email service to send a series of emails to Fauci, threatening the official and his family, according to Connally’s plea agreement.