Nebraska man pleads guilty to threatening election official

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska man pleaded guilty Thursday to posting several threats on an Instagram page associated with an election official in Colorado.

Travis Ford, 42, of Lincoln, posted the threats in August 2021. The official was not identified but U.S. Attorney Cole Finegan for the District of Colorado said in a news release the official was from that state.

The threats included one that said “Your security detail is far too thin and incompetent to protect you. This world is unpredictable these days… anything can happen to anyone.”

“Threats of violence against election officials are dangerous for people’s safety and dangerous for our democracy, and we will use every resource at our disposal to disrupt and investigate those threats and hold perpetrators accountable,” Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said in a news release.

Prosecutors said Ford posted similar messages on Instagram pages associated with President Joe Biden and another public figure, who was not identified.

Ford is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 6. He faces up to two years in prison.

FBI Denver is investigating the case, with the assistance of FBI Omaha.

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