A man who faked a bomb threat while pretending to be an angry conservative voter during last year’s presidential election was sentenced to 20 months in prison this week.
Nicholas Wimbish, 26, was working the polls in Gray, Georgia, when he had a nasty verbal encounter with a voter who thought Wimbish was too loud and distracting those trying to cast early ballots on Oct. 16.
Wimbish spent that night typing out a threat letter and making it appear as if he were the upset voter.
“Election fraud is treason so young dumb woke libs got to face punishments,” the letter read, specifically citing Wimbish among the poll workers and claiming they’d been trying to muck up voters’ ballots.
“I’ll take one for our team,” the letter continued, even threatening to rape female poll workers who were with Wimbish.
The typed note was accompanied by a scrawled note that read: “PS boom toy in early vote place, cigar burning, be safe.” Authorities said that was a reference to a homemade explosive device.
Authorities reproduced both letters in court documents, but redacted the name of the candidate who Wimbish, portraying himself as the conservative voter, was pretending to be. But the verbiage, including saying the candidate was focused on election fraud, strongly suggested an attempt to portray a supporter of President Trump.
“You won’t stop them so I will stop them from your election fraud. This is how patriots do it. Bad things will happen to prevent civil war,” the typed note read. “They will learn a violent lesson about stealing our elections!”
Wimbish was at the polling office when election officials opened the letter on Oct. 22, and he claimed the author must have been the person he had encountered. He repeated that assertion to the FBI.
The FBI later executed a search of his computer and found a copy of the letter in the print spooler.
Wimbish’s lawyer, in a court filing, hinted at a “medical and mental health history,” but the details were sealed in the documents to protect his “privacy and dignity.”
Wimbish pleaded guilty to a charge of conveying false information and making hoaxes.
“Ensuring the security of our polling places is essential. Americans must be able to express their political choices at the ballot box without fear of violence or harm,” stated U.S. Attorney William R. Keyes. “These threats undermine the core values of our nation, and we will vigorously pursue justice in such matters.”
