FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A Boynton Beach man was convicted of calling the office of former U.S. Rep. George Santos' office in Washington, D.C., and threatening to kill him and another person.
Frank Stanzione, 53, was convicted Thursday following a two-day trial in Fort Lauderdale.
Prosecutors said Stanzione, a gay rights activist, made a telephone call from his home in Boynton Beach to Santos' office.
The Department of Justice said Stanzione left a voice message for Santos on Jan. 29, 2023, that stated the following:
"George Santos you fat f------ piece of s--- f-----. You better watch your mother f------ back because I'm gonna bash your mother f------ f----- head in with a bat until your brains are splattered across the f------ wall. You lying, disgusting, disgraceful, mother f------ f-----. You mother f------ piece of s---. You're gonna get f------ murdered you goddamn lying piece of garbage. Watch your back you fat, ugly, piece of s---. You and [Victim 2] are dead."
Santos' chief of staff reported the message to the United States Capitol Police the next morning, prosecutors said. The U.S. Capitol Police began investigating the voice message as a threat and determined that it was made from a telephone number assigned to Stanzione.
Special agents with the Capitol Police went to the address associated with the telephone number and interviewed Stanzione on Jan. 31, 2023.
They confirmed that Stanzione had left the voice message for Santos. Stanzione said he found the telephone number on an online search engine.
Seeking to dismiss the case, federal court documents show that last year Stanzione filed a motion maintaining that "he exercised a fundamental constitutional right in his political speech" toward Santos.
Stanzione contended that Santos had "engaged in several political acts considered by gay-rights activists to be 'anti-gay,' and which caused angry political backlash from members (such as the defendant) in the gay-rights community.
Santos was expelled from the House of Representatives in December.
It's unclear how much time in prison Stanzione faces.
Read the federal court document below: (Warning, document contains vulgar language)